Social Security Headache

My experience at the Memphis Social Security Office

By Allison Donald

Before attempting to write this blog I must make a couple of confessions about my own personal journey with Social Security.  First, I tried to do research about this particular subject and still came away with more questions than answers.  Also, I did not realize or maybe even want to admit to myself how much I had become reliant on that money every month and now that it has been taken away I will have to make some difficult choices.

The Supplemental Security Income program pays benefits to disabled adults and children who have limited income and resources.  SSI benefits also are payable to people 65 and older without disabilities who meet the financial limits.  

People who have worked long enough may also be able to receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or retirement benefits as well as SSI. SSDI is not based on how severe your disability is or how much income you have. Most SSDI recipients receive between $800 and $1,800 per month (the average for 2019 is $1,234). 

As an adult with a disability the question becomes: why do you work?  I mean, you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If you don’t work then your income is limited to $771 a month. That money is supposed to cover food, clothing, and shelter.  In other words, you have to stick to a stringent budget just to survive.  With most one-bedroom apartments costing over $500 a month, most people who get SSI only have minimal resources for all of life’s necessities.

If you work, the social security administration monitors every asset that you receive.  To remain eligible for Social Security disability benefits, you cannot receive employment income that is greater than the substantial gainful activity (SGA) limit. The SGA limit for 2018 for a non-blind person was $1,180 a month and for a person who is blind it was $1,970. Your income may go up and your benefits will go down. 

Most people who work will at some point have an “over-payment.” That is the term that Social Security uses when they reduce the benefit. It can be a headache, I feel that if most people could afford to live without the benefit, they would tell the government to keep it.  The aggravation is not worth it.

I would like our system to be better.   The way the system is set up now, it seems to encourage people not pursue a better standard of living.  The Social Security System seems to create a cycle of poverty that becomes almost impossible to escape.  

It is such a large and difficult bureaucracy, it is hard to see most people being motivated to get off the system once they have qualified. The risk and anxiety people accept in the system prevents more people from attempting to get off of benefits. 

I left my review with Social Security feeling conflicted.  I was angry and more than a lit bit frustrated, but I am also optimistic about the opportunity that is now in front of me. I have chosen to do without the benefit, so I no longer have constraints on what I can earn each month. But, lose the monetary benefit.