SSI and SSDI

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Jim Strickland is a nationally known advocate for veterans and a member of the Stateside Legal Advisory Board. This column appears with his permission. Jim's opinions are his own.

NOTE: Letters in my Q&A columns are reprinted just as they come to me. Spelling and grammar are left as is and only small corrections are made to improve readability, ensure anonymity or delete expletives that may offend some readers. This is not legal advice. You should always seek the advice of an attorney who is qualified in Veterans' law before you make any decisions about your own benefits.

Jim,

My brother came home from Vietnam in 1970 and he managed to work long enough to pay in 36 credits to Social Security. He struggled long and hard working at different places because he felt like rooms and small cubicles places were closing in on him and he felt smothered. Due to this problem it became harder and harder for him to work, well in 1992 the Social Security deem him 100% unemployable due to PTSD and Back problems and gave him a SSI check. His Social Security doctor told him that the VA would be able to help him. He filed a case with the VA and in 1995 the VA found him 100% service-connected due to PTSD. But after he began to draw his VA pay Social Security dropped his check.

My question is:

He was found unemployable by Social Security in 1992 at the 100% level due to PTSD and his back and at that time he was 44 years old and according to their own chart for credits he only needed 22 credits to draw SSDI, now here it is 2012 can he re-file a claim to restore his Social Security check.

Thank you for all you help and knowledge that you have given me and all the other VETERANS around this great country.

Reply:

It sounds as if the original Social Security award was for SSI, not SSDI. SSI is determined by income and once the VA payment started, he was no longer eligible for SSI as his income was too high.

At that point he probably should have formally applied for SSDI. Veterans are allowed to have both VA disability payments and SSDI with no offset of money.

I don't know much about eligibility for SSDI. There are a number of law firms advertising on my web site that handle SSDI cases. I'd advise that he contact one of them to determine his eligibility.