Legal Question in Social Security Law in Oregon

Types of Disability Benefits Are Available

Social Security Disability Insurance

(SSDI), created by Title II of the Act, provides income for

disabled people under age 65, who have worked in recent

years (generally, 5 out of the last 10 years) and paid Social

Security taxes. SSDI is not based on need, but on the

recipient's past contributions (or those of a parent or

spouse) to the Social Security trust fund.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI), created under

Title XVI, covers disabled people who have never been able

to work, or who worked so little or so long ago that they are

not eligible for SSDI. SSI eligibility is determined on the

basis of financial need. The medical requirements and

determination process are the same for both programs.

Both programs define a disability as the "inability to

engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of

any medically determinable physical or mental

impairment which can be expected to last for a

continuous period of not less than 12 months or result

in death." In simple language, your illness makes you

incapable of working enough to earn anything significant.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) defines a medically

determinable impairment as "an impairment that results from

anatomical, physiological, or psychological abnormalities

which can be shown by medically acceptable clinical and

laboratory diagnostic techniques."