SSDI Approved

**Homekeepn** · 02-26-2008, 10:32 AM

Congrats! I was finally approved last August after fighting for over two years. Five minutes in the judge looked at my lawyer and said that I should of been approved the first time arround and couldn't believe that I was ever denied.

It took about a month and a half to received any of the the back wages. Even then they do not pay for the first 6 months. For example from the date of your disablity until the sixth month in they will not include that money in your back wages. I do not know why that is. Also I don't know about your state but Maine requires only 25% of your total back wages for payment to the lawyer.

It is a process that takes way too long. We had alot of payments from just remodeling our home and buying a new truck. Both are now gone due to lack of money. Our credit has gone from A+ to where I don't know if I could get a credit card (not that I want one).

Life changes in a blink of an eye. It only takes a short time to lose what you have.

By the way even having a monthly check from SSD is nothing to brag about. I $350 a month after they take out Medicare, which they claim I should keep because if I cancelled and wanted it later I would be pentalized. I am still able to work part time. The SSD put a limit on my monthly income from my part time work. They said that I can not make any more than $650.00 a month. It shouldn't be a limit on how much I make, I should be limilted on how many hours I can work or what type of work I can do. So basically the gov. is telling me that I cannot make any more then $1000.00 a month.

I feel like I am trapped. The gov. tells me how much I can make and the ultilities,grocers and everyone else with their hand out tells me exactly what they are going to take. Most of the time it is more then I make by a long shot. I have alot of medical bills that are long over due and now my doctors office says that if I don't get them caught up I will be without health care from their office. I told them that now I have medicare and they will pay for my visits. They said it didn't matter.

Sorry for the long post. I guess I needed to vent.

**sondray** · 02-26-2008, 02:54 PM

Congrats to you too!

Why didn't you apply for medicaid? I have had medicaid since my medical insurance from work ran out. I have full medicaid, they pay for everything, even transportation to and from your appts.

Also, you should have appllied for food stamps, I did and was approved, I also applied for Section 8, which also was approved, since I was renting.

You can have both Medicaid and Medicare if you aren't getting too much money.

Sondra

**Homekeepn** · 02-26-2008, 06:09 PM

I didn't apply for it because I just figured that with my husbands income we wouldn't qualify. We make around $45k a year with 2 children. We make too much to qualify for benefits, but not enough to keep the bill collectors away.

I wish we could get FS just so I could use the money to pay off debt. Even after the bank took the truck they sent use a balance due bill of $9,000. My whole SSD check is going to pay back taxes that we couldn't afford to pay for the last two years. We won't get that paid off until Nov.

My part time job is a substitute teacher, so I will not have a pay during the summer. I would like to find something I could do at home. Part time jobs usually pay very little. Sometimes I think it cost more for me to work outside of the home.

I'm glad that you have been approved for these benefits. Is your lawyer really taking 1/3 of your money?

**sondray** · 02-26-2008, 08:47 PM

The most they can take is 5200.00 but it depends on how much I receive. I won't know that for another 60 days, ughhhhh!

They love to make you wait, don't they? But it's better than living for the past 2 1/2 yrs with no money. That is pretty depressing, but I didn't let it get me down. My doctor was so surprised that I was not depressed or stressed out. I told her I have never let anything bother me, because I have always found a way to make it.

When I used to work in NY, I got passed over for a promotion, they offered it to the woman I trained. I had been doing the job a long time. She asked me why did I turn down the position since I had been doing the job since the last person was fired, I told her it wasn't offered to me. She couldn't believe that I wasn't mad. I didn't let it bother me, I just looked for another job, and got an even better one. It always works out in the end for me, usually. That year on my birthday, she called me to tell me that the company closed down. That was a nice birthday present, rotten to say, but I was glad.

Sondra

**fernykins** · 02-26-2008, 09:46 PM

Well if it wasn't for my boys I would have been on the streets a long time ago. They pay it all and fix whats broken in my home.......... I think I have great kids.... My lawyer can only take 25%......... And I live at the Drs sometimes......
Fern

**Homekeepn** · 02-27-2008, 09:15 AM

Are you able to work at all? If not you should be able to receive more than I do a month. If you have children they might be able to have benefits too. My children could not, the SSD said that we earned the family maximum. I do not see how $350 a month can be a family maximum.

I know someone who wrapped herself around a tree drinking and driving. She was approved for SSD because of the accident and is earning around $1000 a month between her and her kids. I was born with my disability without a cure. She is younger then me and worked after the accident. I just do not see how the system figures out benefits.

I know the most that SSD will pay out is $20 k in back wages. Even after being in the application process for over 2 years, I receive less then $7,000. I hope you fair better, it seems that every situation is different.

If you already have FS then you should apply for SSI too. Although it might lower your FS amount. It might be worth it.

**voodidit** · 02-28-2008, 02:44 AM

I'm so glad you got approved.

I got lucky, I was denied and told it could be at least a year before I go to go for a hearing but a few weeks after I got a call from the lawyer I hired to help that NC was going to be starting a new program using a paperless system and my paperwork got picked as a test subject.

So I got my hearing about a month after my first denial and got approved. After being out of work for a year it was a godsend to have everything go so fast. I just hope that it helps speed things up for everyone.

**Homekeepn** · 02-28-2008, 08:43 AM

Originally Posted by voodidit

I'm so glad you got approved.

I got lucky, I was denied and told it could be at least a year before I go to go for a hearing but a few weeks after I got a call from the lawyer I hired to help that NC was going to be starting a new program using a paperless system and my paperwork got picked as a test subject.

So I got my hearing about a month after my first denial and got approved. After being out of work for a year it was a godsend to have everything go so fast. I just hope that it helps speed things up for everyone.

Good for you! I think that the gov. takes so long on a case that deserving applicants simply give up trying. I hope that this paperless system will streamline the process for future applicants. Hopefully with benefits being approved earlier, disabled people won't have to live in a financial mess.

**mombottoo** · 02-28-2008, 05:11 PM

Congratulations!!! I know how rough it is to have to wait for SS. My hubby was injured on the job and it took awhile for everything to go through but it did.

**heartofmine** · 03-01-2008, 08:57 AM

Congratulations on finally getting it. I'm in the process. I've been turned down 2 times and waiting for a hearing. Its weird my papers say yes you have all these things wrong with you but we still think you can work. According to my lawyer its harder to get it if you have worked than if you have never worked.