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Changes to Social Security Disability Benefits in 2024

• Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities • Episode 50

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Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities' Division of Disability Determination (DDD), in agreement with the Social Security Administration (SSA), determines medical eligibility for Ohioans who apply for Social Security disability benefits. DDD is federally regulated and receives 100% of its funding from SSA.  Under SSA, disability is based on an individual’s inability to work. 

Robert Fenn and Brandon Smith, Public Affairs Specialists with SSA,  join the podcast to discuss changes to Social Security disability benefits in 2024.

(Check out episode 27, Applying for Social Security Disability Benefits, for additional information.)

Learn more at SSA.Gov or call 800-772-1213.

Transcripts and MP3 files are available at ood.ohio.gov/podcast.

Do you have a disability? Do you want a job? OOD can help! Visit OODWorks.com or call 800-282-4536 to get started.

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Have a disability? Want to work? Visit OODWorks.com!

OOD Works Podcast Episode 50 Transcript All Episodes

A Comprehensive Look at Social Security Disability Benefits - 2024 Changes and Updates

 

Introduction/Male Speaker

Welcome to OOD Works, the podcast, a show about unique individuals and services provided by Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, the state agency that helps individuals with disabilities find a job and be more independent. Here's your host, Kim Jump.

Kim Jump: 0:18

Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities Division of Disability Determination, or DDD as we call it, in agreement with the Social Security Administration, known as SSA, determines medical eligibility for Ohioans who apply for Social Security Disability Benefits. Our DDD is federally regulated and receives 100% of its funding from Social Security. Under SSA, disability is based on an individual's ability to work. OOD offers vocational rehabilitation services for those individuals who have a disability and want to work. For those who cannot work, disability benefits are a possibility. In this episode of the podcast, I am joined by two gentlemen from SSA to learn all about the 2024 updates related to disability benefits. We have Mr. Brandon Smith, Public Affairs Specialist with SSA, based out of Cleveland, and Mr. Robert Fenn, a Public Affairs Specialist with SSA, based out of Akron. It's wonderful to welcome you back to the show. I do want to just encourage our listeners, if they are just becoming familiar with Social Security Disability Benefits, to go back to episode 27 to get a good foundational knowledge of all things Social Security Disability Benefits. It's a really helpful starting place for understanding. By the way, gentlemen, this is episode 50. Pretty exciting. You're here for a milestone episode, all to talk about the 2024 Social Security Disability Benefits changes. So welcome back, Robert and Brandon.

Robert Fenn: 2:08

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Happy anniversary.

Brandon Smith: 2:12

Really appreciate it, thank you.

Kim Jump: 2:14

Yeah, great to have you back. It's been recent, mid-October, that SSA announced 3.2% benefit increase for 2024. So, before we dive into some specific questions, can you give us an overview of this announcement and what is important for our listeners to know?

Robert Fenn: 2:37

Sure, sure, I can take that, but, as you stated, in the mid-October, the announcement was made in regards to the increase that so many individuals look forward to hearing and knowing what's to take place in the next or the upcoming year. And the essence of the cost-of-living adjustment. Its sole purpose is to ensure that the purchasing power of Social Security Benefits is not eroded by inflation. The holiday season is coming upon us and my uncle will gather with us, and he will always remind us how much he paid for a gallon of milk when he was a kid versus what it costs now. Right, of course. Yeah, so Social Security recognizes that, and so, therefore, the Social Security Benefits themselves are subject to a cost-of-living adjustment. We call it a CPIW, which stands for the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (a mouthful!). But that's determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is within the Department of Labor, and so that information comes to us from the prior quarter. So you're looking at the last quarter of the year, you're looking at September 30th going back three months gets us to June, and that quarter is compared to the prior quarter. Congress enacted this COLA provision back in 1972. So it began in 1975 that it became automatic for US citizens who were receiving a Social Security Benefit, Social Security Retirement Social Security, disability, and Supplemental Social Security Income, to get that increase again tied to the Consumer Price Index CPIW.

Kim Jump: 4:26

Okay, great, that's a good explanation. Thank you, Robert Brandon. How many people are you expecting to be impacted by this cost-of-living adjustment?

Brandon Smith: 4:37

Over 71 million beneficiaries are going to receive the cost-of-living increase. Over 66 million people that are receiving Social Security benefits so we're talking about retirement, housing, survival, disability, children's parents benefits and about seven and a half million people that are receiving benefits on our federal needs-based programs supplemental security income, better known as SSI. Now some people are getting both benefits, so there's a little bit of overlap, but in total, over 71 million people are going to get received the cost-of-living adjustment to their benefits.

Kim Jump: 5:17

Wow, big impact. Can you explain “credit of coverage”` and what has changed?

Robert Fenn: 5:26

Yes, yes, I certainly can. Social Security has a dollar amount that is translated from taxes. So individuals who pay the FICA tax, the Federal Insurance Contribution Act, so individuals pay their tax, that tax amount is where we're again translating it to dollar amounts and that can change. And because that number is what social security uses to see if you've earned enough of these dollar amounts, translate credits to determine if you're eligible for retirement and disability benefits. Last year, that dollar amount of a person was working and I'm referring to W2 wages or, if you're self-employed, the net income, those gross amounts last year, or this year, in 2023, that amount was $1,640. Because of the cost-of-living adjustment in order to earn a credit, it's going to be $1,730. $1,730 gross is the amount Every year. An individual can earn up to as many as four of these credits and so again, you can just do the math the four times the $1,730 or the four times $1,640 this year. $6,560 would be this year. Once a person earns that dollar amount, they earn their four credits For social security retirement. An individual is looking to get up to 40 credits at least an average of 10 years For Social Security, the factor is their age. Commonly spoken is, for those who are aged 31, needs to have worked five out of the last 10 years, and so that's where you can get 20 out of the last 40 quarters of coverage. So credit is very important. It is the marker to determine whether or not an individual has worked enough to receive their credits.

Kim Jump: 7:22

Okay, got it. Good explanation. And Brandon, how about the maximum taxable amount?

Brandon Smith: 7:30

Yeah, so just in case people weren't aware, there's a 7.65 tax rate. That's the combined rate for Social Security and Medicare. The Social Security portion is 6.2% on earnings up to what we call the maximum taxable amount. The Medicare portion is 1.45 on all of the earnings and, as of January 2013, individuals with earned income more than 200,000, or 250,000 for married couples, will pay an additional 0.9% on Medicare tax. But to your question, for Social Security purposes that's 6.2%. The maximum taxable amount is going up from $160,200 in 2023 to $168,600 in 2024. So $168,600 is the maximum amount that you would pay the 6.2% on social security earnings. Now, if you're self-employed, you pay both your portion and the employer portion, so people do need to be aware of that.

Kim Jump: 8:43

Okay, one of the things important to us at OOD is supporting individuals that do collect benefits, that need to maintain a balance. They want to work, but they also need benefits, and so we have work incentive counseling that's available. I wanted to ask you, Robert, how about these individuals who are in employment and collecting Social Security benefits? Are there changes to the benefits based on how much you earn?

Robert Fenn: 9:17

Yes, and then this is the part that Brandon and I will tag team on. Okay, because the public may not have a clear understanding when they're hearing work as it relates to Social Security benefits. Right, right, an individual who is working and receiving Social Security benefits, and the common phrase that people will say is how much can I make and still get my Social Security payment Right? And so the work requirement or work allowance is based upon the type of benefit he or she is receiving. So I will elaborate. On the retirement side. Okay, if an individual is receiving a Social Security retirement benefit, what we call a work test or annual earnings test could be applied. So in 2024, the dollar amount for an individual that he or she can make underneath their full retirement age is $22,320. Next year, I repeat, $22,320. That's around $1,860 gross per month. And please note, I said full retirement age. The year the person is born determines what Social Security calls your full retirement age, meaning, when can I get 100% of what I'm eligible for? Feel free to go to our website. You can type in on Social Security gov full retirement age and there's a chart in which you can review and you can see the actual year that you're born and what corresponds as your full retirement age. If someone is turning their full retirement age in 2024, that dollar amount in 2023 is $56,520. Next year, that amount is going to be $59,520. So it was an increase of $3,000 compared to this current year of 2023, going into 2024. And once an individual hits his or her full retirement age, then there's no set dollar amount in which a person is held against in terms of how much they can make for the year. And then I will tag this back over to Brandon in terms of how it affects for Social Security disability.

Kim Jump: 11:38

Sounds good.

Brandon Smith: 11:42

And so you've got the trial work period. It's one of the work incentives that we have. Essentially, work incentives are rules that help beneficiaries either enter, re-enter or continue in employment, by essentially protecting their eligibility for benefits or their Medicare coverage until they are able to achieve what we call self-supporting employment. So the way the trial work period works is I say it lets you use a little kick the tires not to be mean to the tires and work, and so you get to test your ability to work for at least nine months. Now you know, during the trial work period you're going to get your full Social Security disability check, no matter how much money you make. As long as you report those wages and continue to meet the agency's rules for disability, the trial work period continues until you get at least nine trial work period service months they don't necessarily need to be consecutive within what we call a rolling 60-month or five-year period. In 2023, your wages would be considered a trial work period month if you earn $1,050 or more or work more than 80 hours in self-employment in a month. In 2024, that amount is going up to $1,110. So if a person is working a job and let's say they make $700 or $900, that's under a trial work period amount, so that wouldn't even count as one of those nine months. But let's say they make $3,000 or $7,000. Well, they're making $7,000. I don't know where they're working, but if they make that amount of money that's considered a trial work period month. But they still get their check. As long as they report those wages and they're meeting our eligibility requirements for disability, they can make whatever they want to over the course of those nine months and still get their checks.

Kim Jump: 13:49

So, Robert, if someone's quote on quote working too much, could you explain to our listeners about substantial gainful activity and what has maybe changed for the upcoming year?

Robert Fenn: 14:02

Absolutely, absolutely, and this is a very important aspect of those work incentives for individuals to have clarity on prior to filing and after the trial work period, that term SGA can come into place. Now let me make sure I explain that substantial gainful activity. It is the gross amount that social credit is using again to see whether or not they can continue forward with processing the claim. So let's just bring in the real world example. Because unfortunately, they have a diagnosis or they're not able to continue to work which is in our earlier podcast they're not believing that they can work at least a year. That individual can look to file. What happens is is social credit will ask the question are they or are they not working underneath or above the substantial gainful activity? In 2023, that gross, a dollar amount that social credit is looking at for a person who's not blind is $1470 gross or, if they are blind, $2460 gross. And 2024, that dollar amount that the social credit administration is going to ask is $1550 gross or, if they're blind, $2590. So again my example someone contacts Social Security, they're looking to apply and let's say that they are working and they're making $1000 gross per month. That individual is underneath the substantial gainful activity and part of the process that DDS goes through is looking to see. The first step is are they working or not? To determine whether or not the local office can continue to send that claim down to DDS. And if the individual was making less than the $1550 next year, they're going to go to the next step. There's a five-step process that they go through and that's the first step they're looking at. Now let's fast forward to what Brandon was referring to. The individual has started receiving their social credit benefits. They have used their nine months and then there's a couple months that we use called a grace month. Then we look to see are they making over that same substantial gainful activity? And then that moment is when social credit may say they need to cease sending out those payments. So that's the number that they're looking for after the trial work period and or when they initially looked to file for their benefits substantial gainful activity.

Kim Jump: 16:43

Thank you. And as far as SSI - Supplemental Security Income - goes, Brandon, what is that amount now, and is there anything special you would want to point out?

Brandon Smith: 16:55

Yeah, so SSI, supplemental security income, federal needs-based program for people that are blind, disabled or over the age of 65 with limited income, limited resources. Some of our listeners may be receiving it or they're not sure. So Rob and I will just say hey look, grab a calendar. And when do you normally get your checks? Because SSI checks are traditionally paid on the first day of the month, unless the first falls on a weekend or a holiday. So in 2023, the amount of SSI for an individual is $914. That's going up to $943. So from 914 to 943 in 2024. SSI also offers a couple’s rates of two individuals are both eligible, receiving SSI, and they become a couple. They'll get a larger amount. They'll get one check. It's larger than either singular amount. In 2023, that amount is $1371. That's one check for the couple, and that amount is going up to $1415 as a couple’s rate for 2024.

Kim Jump: 18:12

Okay, no-transcript. Good to know. Well, this has been so helpful. Guys really break it down in such an understandable way For listeners that want to learn more. Where should they go?

Brandon Smith: 18:29

You can always go to our website. The agency's official website is SSA.gov. People can get all our publications and brochures, our forms. You can apply for benefits. A person can apply for retirement, spousal disability, Medicare benefits. You can apply for SSI. In certain instances you can apply for a placement Social Security card. On our website you can create a free my Social Security account which opens up the door for you to report wages If you're on disability and working, get benefit verification letters and do a lot of things. Your gateway to getting information online is going to be SSA.gov.

Kim Jump: 19:19

What about folks that maybe aren't good on the Internet? Is there a toll-free number that maybe they could call?

Robert Fenn: 19:27

Yes, there are some people that believe that they don't have the savviness that they may take. Social Security is always offering different options. Of course, as Brandon pointed out, our website, which is very easy to use and safe, but sometimes individuals are looking to contact us and maybe it's a more detailed question than they have. Again, we do have a frequently asked questions option on our website, but we have our 800 number, which I encourage everyone to use. If you're thinking about coming to the social security office, your local office, please be mindful. They can call 1-800-772-1213, 1800-772-1213 prior to you visiting that office, because, more than likely, if you come to the office without the appointment, we're going to have to make a determination of how many people we have staffed that day to be able to fulfill the needs of the number of individuals who are walking in. It would be who everyone to call that number first. Maybe we can answer the question over the phone, maybe we can send a document for you to have signed and mail back. Maybe we can set up an appointment at a later date for you and if we do that, please be mindful, anyone's listening to this, the date that you contact us, you are protected by that date. So if we're telling you that the appointment is going to be handled two weeks, two months, whatever away, you're still protected for that date as if we took care of it that same date. And I'll also add this little inside note Maybe I should whisper a little bit, but if you call the number, it's easy to reach us later in the day, later in the week, later in the month, later in the day after 10 am.

Speaker 1: 21:18

Later in the week.

Robert Fenn: 21:19

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, later in the month, 16th, 17th on to the end of the month. So I don't know if I'm going to, if I'm giving away top secrets, but at least to let you know that's what you can use in order to reach Social Security. 1-800-772-1213.

Kim Jump: 21:37

Those are great pointers. Thank you so much. Well, this has been fun. It's always great to talk to you both.

Robert Fenn: 21:43

Always, thank you, thank you, thank you, Kim, for allowing us, and I know how Brandon and I-  we can be very conversational, so we thank you for putting up with us! Always a pleasure!

Kim Jump: 22:02

A transcript of today's episode is available at www.OOD.Ohio.gov/podcast. We welcome you to subscribe and leave a review. We're on social media at Ohio OOD. Do you have a disability? Do you want a job? We can help. OODWorks.com.