You may be relieved to have finally gotten the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits you need to sustain yourself. However, you may be unable to rest totally easily when fearing these benefits are only temporary. In other words, you may worry that the Social Security Administration (SSA) enforces a deadline for how long your eligibility lasts. Without further ado, read on to discover whether you need to renew your SSDI benefits and how a seasoned attorney in SSDI eligibility in New Jersey, at The Law Offices of Sheryl Gandel Mazur, can help prove you continually meet its eligibility criteria.
Do I need to renew my SSDI benefits eligibility?
You may rest easier knowing that your SSDI benefits may remain in effect so long as you still have a physical, mental, or emotional disability that continually prevents you from maintaining gainful employment activity. However, this is not to say that the SSA will not want to review the status of your health condition every so often. Now, the frequency of your condition’s reviewing may depend on its likeliness to improve over time. More specifically, your initial SSDI benefits award notice may state that you should expect your first medical review to take place at any of the following timelines:
- Your first medical review may be scheduled within six to 18 months if your condition is expected to improve over time.
- Your first medical review may be scheduled within three years if your condition can possibly improve over time.
- Your first medical review may be scheduled within seven years if your condition is not expected to improve over time.
What happens if the SSA no longer deems me eligible?
Of note, you may be expected to technically renew your SSDI benefits eligibility by completing and submitting the SSA’s Medical Continuing Disability Review Report online. Even before your first medical review is scheduled, though, it is your responsibility to inform the SSA of any changes that may affect your eligibility for SSDI benefits. For example, if your health condition has improved and you no longer have a disability; if you have been able to return to work and maintain gainful activity; or if you have become self-employed and able to earn gainful activity.
This is important to do to avoid being penalized by the SSA. That is, if the SSA learns you failed to report a change on time, it may assume you were overpaid and subsequently require that you pay these funds back. The SSA may go as far as reducing your SSDI benefits payments from here on out by $25 to $100 each time you fail to report a change. Or, if the SSA is under the belief that you knowingly made a false statement or failed to report, it may withhold your future payments for at least six months.
At the end of the day, if you have any lingering doubts about your SSDI benefits, a competent attorney in SSDI eligibility in New Jersey can help relieve them. So whenever you are ready to start, please reach out to The Law Offices of Sheryl Gandel Mazur.
