[Music]
hi and welcome to cck live today we're going to be discussing VA disability and Social Security
benefits so first just starting out with what the difference is between SSDI and SSI there are
two different types of Social Security Disability Benefits the first is Social Security disability
insurance or SSDI and supplemental security income or SSI SSDI can support those who are disabled and
have a qualifying work history either through their own employment or through a spouse or a
family member SSDI is a program that you pay into when you work and the benefit amount is
based on your past earnings SSI provides financial assistance to people with disabilities and the
elderly who have limited income and resources in other words it's basically a needs-based program
the main differences between SSDI and SSI are that SSI has income limits whereas SSDI only
counts earned income while SSI payments are based on age disability and income limits SSDI payments
are based on disability and work history so how do VA disability benefits affect SSDI and
SSI so first it's good to just talk about the difference between Social Security benefits
and VA compensation so Social Security is in contrast to VA you are either fully disabled
or not disabled at all and it's one single lumsum payment VA however you have a scale of being 0%
to 100% disabled and based on your rating it's a different monthly amount now VA disability
benefits have no effects on entitlement to SSDI benefits however this is different when it comes
to supple supplemental security income SSI because supplemental security income as Caleb mentioned is
a needs-based program so if you are getting VA compensation that affects how much uh income a
veteran is making so there is an impact on SSI when you get VA when you get VA compensation
benefits now it's going to be the same way for pension benefits a veteran who qualifies
and obtains VA pension benefits will maybe no longer qualify for SSI benefits because the
pension amount May exceed what is allowed in in order for them to be eligible to get SSI income
so just keep that in mind that's something that um VA does require a veteran to report when they're
on pension getting VA disability pension benefits is any additional income so at any point in time
if you earn or get awarded SSI benefits you would need to notify VA you would also need to notify
them if you receive SSDI benefits because again pension is a needs-based program uh so your if
your income is changing because you get awarded Social Security benefits you would need to notify
VA and so that's a good segue into an offset uh so any VA disability benefits you receive
is going to offset offset the amount that you can get from SSI uh so that's why it's important like
Michelle said to report that information so for example uh this SSI income limit in 2023
is $914 per month for an eligible individual so if you were getting more than $914 a month in VA
disability uh then you're not going to qualify for SSI however if you're receiving less than
$914 a month in VA disability then there's going to be an offset the amount that you're getting in
VA disability is going to be taken out of your SSI payment so if you're getting VA disability
compensation um that can lowerer your SSI payment however it's not going to lower your SSDI payment
because that is not income determinative similarly if you're getting VA Pension uh it works the same
way if you're getting Social Security Disability or SSI that's going to be money that's counted
towards your income uh so VA Pension has the same kind of imit uh income limit uh as SSI so it's
going to Beed uced uh or you're not going to be eligible depending on if the amount that you're
getting from SSA uh is more than the income limit for pension and many veterans May wonder if they
automatically qualify for VA disability benefits because they have social security benefits and
vice versa the short answer to that question is no you do have to apply for and qualify for each
of them separately um winning approval for one type of benefits doesn't mean that you qualify
or necessarily have a better chance of getting the other however if you are receiving Social Security
disability VA is likely going to look at your social security file especially if you're pursuing
a tdiu claim and that information can either help your VA Disability Benefits case or it could
potentially be a hurdle it just depends what your service connected for and on which disabilities
your SSDI is based it's again not a guarantee that your claim will be granted or denied one way or
the other but it can definitely be influential in va's decision- making process so for more
information about this topic check out our website at cck-law and thank you for tuning [Music] in
[Music]