The Basics

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a federal program that gives monthly payments to people who have worked, paid Social Security taxes, and now have disabilities that limit their ability to work.

There are two basic rules for getting SSDI:

• You must be insured. You need to have worked long enough to be covered by SSDI.
• You must have a disability that meets Social Security’s standards. The disability determination process looks at five things to see whether you have a disability.

You must meet both of these requirements to get SSDI benefits. However, there are some other situations where you may get similar benefits from Social Security:

• If you are an adult with a disability that began before you turned 22, you may qualify for Childhood Disability Benefits (CDB; previously called Disabled Adult Child, or DAC).
• If you haven't turned 19 yet, you may qualify for child's benefits if one of your parents gets SSDI or Social Security retirement benefits, or if a parent died. You do not need to have a disability.
• If your spouse or ex-spouse qualifies for SSDI or Social Security retirement benefits, you may also qualify. You may qualify for Disabled Widow(er) benefits if your spouse qualified before dying.

If you qualify for SSDI or these other benefits, the amount you get each month is based on your Social Security earnings record (or the record of your parent or spouse). The more you’ve worked and the more you’ve paid in Social Security taxes, the higher your benefits will be.

After getting benefits for two years, you automatically get Medicare health coverage.

If you get SSDI benefits and start working, SSDI has rules and incentives that can help you work without having to worry that you’ll lose the benefits you need.