In 2021, 13 million people under age 65 received income from the Social Security disability programs, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which provide monthly income to people who are unable to work on account of a disability. Living with a disability is hard. It’s even harder when long-term illness or injury affects your ability to work and pay your bills.
Ms. B, 63, knows this first-hand. After losing her part-time job due to COVID-19 downsizing, she became desperate for financial assistance. Although she lives with a visual disability, Ms. B was unaware that she might be eligible for benefits. Suddenly and unexpectedly unemployed, this Tennessee resident simply didn’t know how she would eat, cover her rent, pay for her prescription medicines, or manage her other basic living costs.
“I was unable to make logical decisions about [my finances],” she explained at the time.
Fortunately, with help from an outreach specialist at Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee, an NCOA Benefits Enrollment Center, Ms. B successfully applied and qualified for Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Together with other benefits programs, this income has dramatically changed Ms. B’s financial situation.
“Social Security disability programs provide a crucial lifeline for people like Ms. B,” said Jen Teague, NCOA’s Director for Health Coverage and Benefits. “But the approval process takes time. And that can create an income gap that’s tough to bridge—especially for people whose conditions are so severe that even temporary employment is out of the question.”
According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), it typically can take between five and six months to make a disability benefits decision.1 But that doesn’t account for the time applicants spend gathering the necessary documentation, completing the paperwork, and following up. All of these factors can add up to even longer waiting periods for people anxious for financial assistance.
