Can I collect private insurance and SSD?

[Beth35]

Hello everyone, I have not been around for a while.  I have been busy. 

I have been swelling around my ankles a lot and I'm feeling pretty tired.  My labs have been getting worse and worse and dialysis has been looming over me.  My mom thinks I should start thinking ahead financially for when I begin dialysis again and so I have a few questions...

I have disability insurance through my workplace.  I pay into it each month.  It only pays a portion of my salary though when I become disabled.  I know that I can also get social security disability as well when I begin dialysis.  But again, it won't be as much as I'm making now.  My question is, can I collect both of them?  I mean, I have been paying 100 dollars a month for years for the private disability insurance and I have been paying money into SSI so it would make sense that I could collect both.

I also have the option of doing disability retirement since I have ten years in the pension system.  But when I spoke to a lawyer last year, he said I could not collect that AND the private insurance.

Does anyone here have experience with this?  It's been scary thinking how I will manage being a single mom and at the same time, paying the bills on a smaller amount of money. 

Any help or insight would be SO appreciated.

[sullidog]

I am not sure but I would say yes I'd show the social security office your statements from the disability at work and go from there.
Troy

[RightSide]

AFAIK, private disability payments will not affect your SS disability payments.

However:  Are you speaking of long-term disability (LTD) insurance from your employer?  If so, you may also have difficulty getting them to approve your claim.  The fact that Social Security considers ESRD to be a disability is NO guarantee that some private insurer will also consider it to be a disability--as I found out to my sorrow.

I have long-term disability insurance (The Hartford) from my former employer too. But when I tried to file a claim, The Hartford told me that they don't consider the condition I have to be truly disabling.  On the application form, they asked me a set of questions:  Can I dress myself?  Can I bathe myself?  Can I feed myself?  Can I walk around by myself?  Yes?  Then you're not disabled!  Claim DENIED! 

So I'm still paying premiums on my long-term disability insurance from The Hartford!

So I suggest you call the insurance issuer and ask them what their policy is on "disabilities."  You may find, as I did, that nothing short of being a paraplegic is considered by them to be really "disabling"--in which case this issue is moot.

[Beth35]

Thank you for your thoughts.  I would be pretty pissed off if my private disability insurer denied my claim after I have been paying them a lot of money each month for YEARS.  That is why I purchased the insurance in the first place. 

If anyone else has any other experience with that, I'd love to hear it!  Thanks!

[Jie]

The long-term disability should be for the work, not ability to live alone. If one cannot perform the job due to this health problem, then he or she is disability if the com. does not fine any suitable job for him or her.

[Sunny]

I am on long term disability form my employer because I am unable to do the job I was performing.
I was a 4th grade teacher. My doctor was required to fill out all kinds of forms attesting to the fact I could no longer do the tasks to perform the job. The Long term disability insurer required me to submit a disability claim to Social Security, which was rejected. Had Social Security approved my disability, then my emloyer Long term disability insurer would have offset the amount paid by Social Security from the amount they were contractually obligated to pay me . The reason Secial Security rejected my disability claim was because I had not paid into Social Security enough quarters in the last five years prior to my making the claim ( because teachers pay into their own retirement fund, and not into Social Security here in California).

[Beth35]

Thanks sunny for that info.  So basically, I will only be able to collect one or the other.  -Not both.  So I guess that takes me back to only getting a portion of my salary.  Darn it. 

Did you have any trouble living off of the disability since it is less than our salary? 

[looneytunes]

Beth, it would be worth checking into further in your state as the laws vary from state to state on "collateral source" rules.  Some states allow "double dipping" and others do not.  Some will have offsets and others may allow you to collect from both in full.   I would siggest you check with your HR department to see what help they can give you in answering your questions and also call the SS office.     

[jeannea]

I am currently collecting both private disability payments and Social Security disability.  I got approved for the insurance from work first and then the government stuff.  Here's the way I understand it.  My insurance offers a benefit of 60% of my former salary.  Since I am also getting SS, the private insurance subtracts the government payment from the amount they pay me and they make up the difference.  So I'm still getting 60% of my salary but some of it comes from insurance and some from the government.  And with the way the taxes are different on disability I come out pretty close to my former take home pay. I was only taking home 62-63% when I was working anyway. I'm only in trouble this summer when I have to start paying more for my medical insurance.  Then I'll get a part time job. I know you can earn a small amount a year and still keep your disability.

Jeanne

[Jie]

My workplace disability policy works the same way as Jeanne. Once the disability is approved, the worker begins to get retirement benefit. The total pay is equal to the percentage of the wage that the disability policy specifies. The retirement pays first and then the insurance makes up the difference. 

[Jie]

The reason Social Security rejected my disability claim was because I had not paid into Social Security enough quarters in the last five years prior to my making the claim ( because teachers pay into their own retirement fund, and not into Social Security here in California).

Hi Sunny,

I thought about this question before. If the Social Security does not approve for disability, then part of your disability insurance payment (retirement part) may subject to 10% federal penalty if you are not old enough. Is it an option that the Social Security approves the disability but does not pay benefits due to no enough quarters?   

[Beth35]

Thanks for the input guys.  I found out that one of my reps was wrong about us being able to collect SS disability.  It was my understanding that teachers could NOT collect, as we don't pay into it.  My union rep said we could collect, but I found out it's not true.

So basically, since I have been teaching for ten years in the pension system, I can collect disability retirement benefits.  Eventually my job will not allow me to be out of work and they will have to let me go, so the retirement disability will cover the much needed insurance aspect of it.  I was just hoping that I would get some extra money on top of my own private disability insurance which is looking slim.  I'm sure it's like you all say, between the two, I'll still be getting less than what I'm making now, which is scary.

[Sunny]

Beth,
My long term disaiblity is 60% of what I made as a teacher here in California. It's hard to live on, I'm married and my husband has health insurance so that makes all the diferrence. I think if I were on my own, I would probably find the cheapest place to live and move there to stretch my income as far as possible. If I work to make more money, the long term disability insurance offsets anything I make because they only are required to make sure I have 60% of my last income as a teacher. I call it the "Catch 22". Also, I have to pay income taxes on my disability insurance because my school district paid for the long term disability insurance ( this is in the tax code). On the other hand, if I had been the one paying the long term disability insurance then I would not have to pay any income taxes on disability payments. It depends on which State you live in whether you can "double dip" or not. And in California, it depends on which district you were in while you were teaching. Check to make sure you get accurate information. The HR dept will know for sure.

[Beth35]

I pay for my disability insurance.  I do however have a lot of stuff being taken out of my salary.  Things like pension money, insurance fees, union fees and stuff.  I will call someone tomorrow and hopefully they can lead me in the right direction.

I also have disability on my car so my car will be paid for if I get sick which is nice.