When a worker becomes disabled and is no longer able to maintain full-time work activity, the paychecks that the worker is accustomed to receiving cease to exist. In addition to a lack of income, disabled workers are also often faced with mounting medical bills and finances that begin to spiral quickly out of control. Unfortunately, some of these workers do not have only themselves to think about. They have families to support as well. Many people wonder if Social Security Disability recipients who need to support a family should be given more benefits than those who do not. The answers lie within the actual goal of the Social Security Disability program.
The goal of the Social Security program is to keep families from becoming destitute. This is the goal of the retirement program and it is also the goal of the Social Security Disability program as well. It goes without saying that a disabled worker who needs to support a family will need more financial support than a disabled worker who has no dependents in order to meet the financial needs of that family. It is not the spouse’s fault or the dependents’ faults that the worker has become disabled and they should not become destitute as a result of the disability. With this being said, it is understandable that Social Security Disability recipients who need to support a family should be given more benefits, and they oftentimes are in the case of SSDI. It is important to note, however, that those benefits are not paid directly to the disabled worker and that not all disabled worker dependents will receive Social Security Disability benefits.
When a disabled worker is approved for Social Security Disability benefits, his or her dependents also begin to receive Social Security Disability benefits if they qualify. First and foremost, the Social Security Disability recipient must have earned enough work credits in order to qualify for SSDI. Then there is a maximum monthly amount that the worker and/or his family can receive. If the worker has earned enough work credits and the check he or she receives does not meet the maximum benefit allowance, the remaining benefit amount will be split among the dependents and those dependents will each receive a Social Security Disability check.
Let’s say for example that John Doe has a maximum allowable benefit amount of $2,200 per month. Due to his work history and his past income, his Social Security Disability payment is $1,500 per month. John Doe also has three children who are dependents. Each of those dependents would then receive one-third of the remaining $700 per month ($2,200 minus the $1,500 that John Doe is receiving). While this is not always how things work out, this is often the scenario when it comes to disabled workers who must support a family so, in essence, those who have dependents and are responsible for people other than themselves can and often do receive more disability income from the Social Security Administration.
