There is more to establishing your eligibility for Social Security disability than your medical condition alone. An Ocala Social Security disability claims lawyer addresses some of these requirements in the paragraphs below.
In order to qualify for Social Security disability, more is required than a medical impairment. You must also have contributed to the system long enough to be “fully insured,” and your payments must be sufficiently current to maintain your disability insured status.
Like a health or life insurance policy, the Social Security disability program requires that you pay premiums in the form of Social Security taxes. This is the money that is taken out of your pay every month, and part of what it goes into is the Social Security disability program. However, like an insurance policy, if your premiums are not up to date, you can lose coverage. Thus, if you leave the work force for a long enough period, you can lose your insured status.
Your insured status depends on how many “quarters of coverage”, or QCs, you have accumulated over your working life. This depends on how much money you earn in a year’s time. The smallest amount that qualifies as a quarter of coverage rises on an annual basis and is set by the SSA. The maximum number of QCs that you can accumulate in a year’s time is four. Assuming that the earnings required to constitute a QC is $780 as it was in 2000, if you made more than $3120 that year, you accumulated four QCs. It is immaterial whether the money was paid over the whole year or in a three-month period during that year.
If you have questions, would like additional information or are seeking advice, don’t hesitate to contact an Ocala Social Security disability claims lawyer with the CJ Henry Law Firm, PLLC by calling 352.304.5300 today.
