“Can I Receive Social Security Disability Benefits If I Get Veterans’ Benefits?”
The short answer is, yes, you can qualify for Social Security Administration (SSA) benefits if you already receiving benefits from the Veterans Affairs (VA) administration. Getting VA benefits in no way disqualifies you or changes your ability to apply.
Bear in mind, however, that the rules for the two types of benefits are very different from one another. With VA benefits, a veteran can qualify for partial disability, for impairments that only partly affect his or her ability to make a living.
SSA Benefits
The bar for SSA benefits are significantly higher, however. SSA disability benefits go only to people who can prove that their impairments keep them from doing any type of work. The term the SSA uses for this is Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA).
On the SSA website, it says that:
- The applicant must be unable to perform “substantial work because of your medical condition(s)” and
- The medical condition(s) must “have lasted, or be expected to last, at least one year or to result in death”
According to the SSA, more than 600,000 US military veterans received disability benefits in the year 2016. According the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 4,000,000 veterans have reported that they have some sort of disability. Therefore, less than one of six disabled veterans are receiving disability benefits. Many veterans may not realize that they can apply for both sets of benefits.
Active duty service members can apply, just as much as retired military veterans. This has nothing to do with hospitalization status, either.
Social Security Disability Benefits Assistance in Cincinnati
If you are in need of legal assitance with your SSD, please contact Clements, Taylor & Cohen LPA Co. and Butkovich & Associates today.