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Age Matters


 

Age Matters: Qualifying for Social Security Disability Benefits

When applying for Social Security Disability benefits, the requirements you must prove are the same for everyone, for people of any age.

Social Security Disability benefits are not a government handout. To qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), for example, you had to work and pay into the system from your paychecks for years.

Special Disability Qualifications for People Over 50

Social Security has special rules for people over the age of 50 years old. When you apply for benefits, or appeal a denial, it becomes easier to show Social Security that you cannot work in any capacity, and they begin to rule out the possibility that you might be able to perform a different kind of work.

This is a key factor to winning disability benefits.

How Is It Different When You Are 50?

For example, when you are under 50, Social Security might say you could move to a less physical job, maybe working at a desk in an office.

It is very important to make sure you present information about your age, and experience in a way that gives you every advantage under these rules.

At Olinsky Law Group, our disability representatives know how to apply the rules for people over the age of 50 in your favor.

What Social Security Disability Age Group Do I Fit Into?

When Social Security evaluates your disability claim, it will put you into an age bracket.

You can see from the brackets how winning benefits gradually gets easier with age:

  • Younger Person = 18-49

Social Security expects you to be unable to work at all, in any job that exists, to win benefits.

  • Closely Approaching Advanced Age = 50-54

At this age, you may not need to prove you cannot do any job in the economy, only that you cannot do your most recent job.

  • Person of Advanced Age = 55 and Older

As you advance in age, Social Security becomes even more likely to conclude that your health problems rule out working in any job.