Social Security Disability Insurance SSDI

Congress added disability insurance to Social Security in 1956. Workers qualify if they have paid Social Security taxes long enough, usually 5 of the last 10 years, and have a medical condition expected to last at least a year or result in death that keeps them from doing substantial work, defined as earning about 1,690 dollars a month in 2026. Benefits begin after a five-month waiting period, and recipients become eligible for Medicare after 24 months. About 7 million disabled workers receive an average of about 1,640 dollars a month in 2026.

Applications are first reviewed by state Disability Determination Services agencies using federal rules, which approve roughly a third of initial claims. Applicants who are denied can ask for reconsideration and then a hearing before one of Social Security's administrative law judges, followed by an Appeals Council and federal court. The process can take a year or more, and backlogs at each step have drawn criticism from both parties.

The number of disabled workers peaked near 9 million in 2014 and has since fallen as the population ages into retirement benefits and applications have declined, and the 2026 trustees report projected the disability trust fund could pay full benefits through the end of the century. Debates center on how strict eligibility should be, how to help recipients return to work, the separate Supplemental Security Income program for people with little work history, and staffing and wait times at Social Security offices.