How to Apply for Social Security Disability Benefits in NY

If you become disabled in New York, you have several government resources to which you can turn to receive financial help. If you have a substantial employment history, you are probably eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSD or SSDI) benefits, if your disability meets other requirements. If you have not been working and paying into the SSD system for many years, then you may be eligible to apply for Supplemental Security Income (SSI). This blog post explains how to know if you qualify and how to apply for the benefits you deserve in New York.

At London Disability Advocates for Social Security, we have helped thousands of New Yorkers receive the government disability benefits to which they were entitled and which they can rely on. If you have questions or you need help applying for your disability benefits, contact us right away and let us help you get your SSD or SSI benefits. Are You Eligible for New York Social Security Disability Benefits?

The Social Security Administration (SSA) requires that your illness or injury meet its definition to qualify for SSD benefits. To receive monthly SSD benefit payments, your disability must be a

• Medically determinable
• Physical or mental impairment,
• That lasted or is expected to last at least 12 months (or result in death),
• And prevents you from performing substantial gainful activities.

These criteria require evidence in the form of medical records, doctor’s reports, test results, or other reliable documents identifying the nature and severity of your impairments. The federal government does not pay benefits to those with only short-term disabilities. The impairment must be one that has or will prevent you from earning income from employment for at least a year. And during that period, your earned income cannot exceed the maximum allowable income eligibility limit. In 2022, that means you may not be eligible for SSD if you earn more than $1,350 per month (or $2,260 per month for blind applicants).

Do You Have Enough Work Credits?

Only workers and former workers are eligible to receive SSD benefits. That’s because the benefit payments are largely financed by payroll deductions used to contribute to the fund. For each year you earned a minimum income and paid taxes, you earned four (4) work credits, one for each quarter. Generally, forty (40) credits are required for someone to become eligible to apply for SSD benefits, with half of those earned in the 10 years prior to your disability.

For younger workers who become disabled before they accumulate that number of credits, an adjusted scale is used, requiring credits in an amount determined by how far in the past you turned 21 and how many years you worked since then. With enough work credits and a physical or mental impairment meeting the SSA’s definition of “disabled,’ you should be able to claim and be approved for monthly SSD benefits.

Are You Eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Benefits?

If you meet the SSA’s definition of disabled but you do not have the required number of work credits to claim SSD benefits, you will probably qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. The SSI benefits program is designed to provide some financial support to disabled people who do not have a substantial employment history but who have low incomes and very few financial resources. The government counts certain income and resources against an applicant’s allowable assets and then reduces the monthly benefit payment by the amount of excessive countable income the claimant received.

The rules are a bit too complicated for this brief blog post. Still, our trained staff of disability advocates at London Disability Advocates will be happy to explain all the details when you contact us.

How Do You Apply for Disability Benefits in New York?

While you are not legally required to use a lawyer or professional advocates to apply for disability in New York, you will want to ensure that your benefits application is prepared correctly, is filled out completely, and that all the documents and medical records that support your claim for benefits get included with your SSD or SSI claim.

At London Disability Advocates for Social Security, we have a full staff of highly trained professional advocates who work on Social Security Disability and Supplement Security Income applications and who interact every day with the Social Security Administration to press our clients’ cases for approval.

Use Trained Professional Disability Advocates to Prepare and File Your Disability Claim

When someone is living with a disabling physical or mental impairment, they often find the challenges of collecting all the medical records from all their prior doctors, therapists, lab testing sites, and other healthcare providers too challenging to overcome.

Expert professional Social Security disability advocates are trained to work with disabled individuals who need help collecting, organizing, preparing, and presenting the evidence that supports their valid claims for SSD or SSI benefits.

If you qualify for Social Security Disability or Supplemental Security Income benefits, don’t put off applying because you think it’s too much work, or you think the process is too complicated. Let us do it for you.