- Welcome to the Hill & Ponton
Social Security Disability Blog.
I'm Natalia Joffrey, the Social Security Director
at our firm.
- My name is Shelly Mark.
I am the Senior Social Security attorney here at the firm.
- So today, we're gonna talk a little bit
about veterans' disability benefits
and how you can get those in combination
with Social Security Disability,
how does that work, how does it get offset,
does it get offset, can you get both?
There's an array of questions.
We do veterans' disability claims here at Hill & Ponton,
and so, and we also do Social Security Disability.
So just those two types of disability.
We don't do any other type of law.
So, of course, we have that question come up a lot.
We realized, talking about this on our own,
that there, I mean, this could really branch out
to all sorts of different topics.
So we're gonna do a little miniseries.
There'll be several videos explaining
different aspects of this, but I guess to kick it off,
you want to talk a little bit about what you find?
- Sure.
- Yeah.
- Sure, so anyone that's receiving VA benefits
can definitely apply for Social Security Disability.
As long as the VA benefits that they are receiving are
service-connected, then, receiving the Disability
from Social Security in conjunction with that
will not have any negative effect.
If they're receiving a pension from the VA,
which is more of an income-based program,
probably a lot fewer people are receiving that,
but in that situation, we're gonna have to look
and see which is the higher amount because it
will affect their benefit.
It will reduce it.
- Yeah, so those, that pension is also known
as non-service-connected benefits.
And so, people will say,
"Will my non-service-connected benefits
"be affected by Social Security Disability?"
The answer is yes because non-service-connected benefits
are income-based, and they're affected by income,
and vice versa.
If you are getting SSI, which is
Social Security's income-based benefit,
then that benefit can be affected by any income,
including your veteran's non-service-connected benefits.
So I guess the take away regarding this part
in particular is it depends on which benefit you're getting
from Social Security whether it's going
to be affected or not and whether your non-service
connected benefit's gonna be affected or not.
- Yeah, I'd say with us, probably 90 plus percent
of our cases are veterans that are service-connected,
and we are able to file their disability claims
with Social Security so that they can receive both.
I've had someone ask me before,
"Does that mean I'm double dipping?"
Absolutely not.
Your VA service connection is paid to you
because of injuries you sustained on active duty,
and your Social Security Disability,
that is like an insurance premium
that you paid while you were working.
So there's absolutely nothing wrong with pursuing both.
- Yeah, and obviously, if you're disabled,
this could help you immensely.
So the take away here is if you're a veteran
that's disabled, apply for Social Security Disability.
Why deny yourself that benefit?
Don't try to figure it out on your own.
Have the application taken.
If you don't qualify, you're gonna be told that.
You're gonna be told why that is,
but if it's for any reason other than income,
so if like, they're saying medical,
you're not disabled enough, you haven't been
out of work enough, whatever, we can help you with all that,
or you can pursue the claim on your own.
Okay, but the point being don't assume
that there's going to be an offset
because most of the time in the cases that we handle,
there are not, and you can get two full benefits,
and that's huge.
- Definitely, definitely.
- Which also means that you get insurance,
Medicare, in addition to your ability
to get treatment through the VA.
- That's correct.
- So that's a whole nother topic.
We'll talk about that in another video,
but for now, thanks for watching,
and we'll see you next time.
- Thank you.
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