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DISABILITY APPROVAL LETTER

An approval letter from Social Security is not only relatively rare but it can be a very happy occasion--especially after months or years of financial hardship caused by a sudden disability and loss of income.  An approval letter will come from Social Security if your initial application has been approved, or more likely, if an administrative law judge has heard your appeal and granted a favorable decision.  The approval letter will state your "onset date," meaning the date you first became disabled.  The earlier the onset date, the more back pay you will receive.

Within 60 days after receiving the approval letter, you will get a second letter that gives some more details about your benefits.  This second letter will tell you the amount of your monthly benefit check, the date you will receive your first payment, and the day of the month your monthly payments will arrive.  It will also state the amount of your past due benefits and the approximate date that they will be deposited to your account.

Please keep in mind that after you receive your official notice of award (approval letter), it can take up to 60 days to receive money from Social Security.  

When do you receive Medicare insurance?  If you are approved under a Title 2 claim (regular Social Security disability or SSDI), you will become entitled to Medicare coverage on the date your 25th monthly benefit becomes payable.  In short, there is a 24 month waiting period for Medicare, plus the five month waiting period for all SSDI claims.  Thus, approved SSDI claims wait a total of 29 months after the date of their disability onset (not the date of the application or date of the award)  to receive Medicare insurance coverage.  If you are approved under a Title XIV claim (SSI), you will become eligible for Medicaid the month following the month you filed your SSI application.  In some SSI cases, Medicaid coverage can even be back dated to cover certain past due medical bills.  However, this is not true of SSDI claims and Medicare.

Questions about your SSDI (Title 2) or SSI (Title 16) award may be addressed to your representative.  If you are unrepresented, questions should be addressed to your local Social Security office.

 

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