Nine Interesting Facts about Social Security Medical chart review important in proving person’s eligibility for benefits. Here are interesting facts about the programs.
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Americans who are unable to work for at least 12 months due to a disability can receive income from the federal government via the 2 programs social security disability and supplemental security income. Medical chart review is the most important process in proving a person’s disability, and since this is a complex task, disability attorneys utilize medical review service to ease the process. Only with a strong medical record to support the claim, the applicant can receive benefits. He/she must be able to prove he/she cannot work at any job, not just at the previous occupation. This can be proved only via the medical chart that throw light on the applicant’s severe disability/disabilities – physical or psychological, or both. Apart from the medical records, the age of the claimant is an important factor in obtaining benefits. A person under the age of 50 may find it very difficult to qualify for disability benefits. Moreover, the claimant cannot be earning more than $1,170 per month from employment during the disability period. In this article, we will look at some social security facts that are interesting, some weird, and may be little known as well. MassMutual Financial group that conducted a survey on Social Security in February 2015 found that only 28% of the 1,513 people who took their 10-question, true-false online quiz could obtain a passing grade of seven out of 10 correct (or better). 1. Did you know you can receive benefits without working even a single day in your life? Typically, to qualify for SS retirement benefits you must earn 40 lifetime work credits. You can earn a maximum of 4 of these coverage credits annually, with $1,320 in earned income in 2018 equating to one lifetime credit. Most people become eligible for social security by working for around 10 years. However, some people can receive the benefits without even working a single day in their lives. For instance, if one spouse worked throughout their lifetime and the other didn’t, and the working spouse passes away before the one that didn’t work, the surviving spouse can receive a monthly survivor benefit from social security based on their diseased spouse’s earnings history. 2. Divorced? You can still get spousal benefits. Divorcing your spouse doesn’t essentially disqualify you from claiming SS spousal benefits in their name. you can claim benefits based on your ex-spouse’s work history, provided you are still unmarried, and your marriage to your ex-spouse lasted at least 10 years. You must be aged 62 or older, and your ex-spouse must be eligible for either retirement or disability benefits from Social Security. If your ex-spouse is old enough to receive
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social security benefits but hasn’t applied yet, you can still get spousal benefits provided you have been divorced for at least two years. 3. Not yet 62? You may still qualify for social security benefits. Widows and widowers have the option of claiming survivor benefits as early as age 60. However, if the surviving widow/widower is disabled, they can claim benefits at age 50. Disability benefits can be paid out at any age, and dependent children may qualify as well. 4. Under special circumstances, you may get a new social security number: If you have been the victim of identity theft, and you can prove this to Social Security, you could be given a new social security number. Or, if your life is in danger because of someone being able to track you via your social security number, the SSA may allow you to have a new number. 5. Kids get benefits, and in some cases parents too. Unmarried children under age 18, or 19 if still in high school, can receive benefits based on the parents’ work record if the parent is collecting social security retirement or disability benefits. Grandchildren may be eligible for benefits on a grandparent’s record if they are dependents and receive no financial support from a parent. Mothers and fathers who depend on an adult child for at least half of their financial support can receive survivor benefits if that child dies. 6. Taxes may increase. Depending on your income, up to 85% of your benefits could be taxed. These income limits have not changed for many years irrespective of rising wages, and therefore the chances of you owning taxes on benefits have also increased. While less than 10% beneficiaries paid income tax on their benefits in 1984, now about 40% pay taxes and this is expected to increase to more than half in three decades. 7. No more forwarding services. For many years, Social Security had forwarded letters to people who couldn’t be located. These letters could be from relatives notifying the missing person of some important news. The service was free if the cause was humanitarian, but cost a certain fee if it was notifying a person of unclaimed property. This service is no longer available because of so many locator resources available for free online. 8. Your creditors can’t touch your social security benefits, but the federal government can.Your social security income is completely protected from private creditors. But if you owe back taxes, federal student loans, back alimony, or child
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support, the government has the right to garnish a percentage of your monthly benefits. 9. Did you know that Social Security has a do-over clause? If you regret filing for benefits at an early age (62, 62, or 64), you can undo your claim using Form SSA521. This form is officially the “Request for Withdrawal of Application�. When you undo your claim, it would allow your benefits to continue increasing at 8% per year till age 70 or when you decide to once again file for benefits. However, you will have to file Form SSA-521 within 12 months of first receiving benefits. You will also have to repay all the benefits your received from SSA.
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