Atlanta Disability Attorney for SSDI and SSI Claims

SSDI and SSI Are Two Different Programs

Filing under the wrong program, or missing that you qualify for both, is one of the most common mistakes we see. The two programs share a medical standard but almost nothing else.

SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) works like insurance you paid for through the Social Security tax on every paycheck.

• Most adults need about 20 work credits earned in the 10 years before their disability began, though younger workers can qualify with fewer.
• Savings, a home, or a spouse’s paycheck do not count against you.
• Your monthly amount depends on your lifetime average earnings, not on your diagnosis.
• Payments begin after a five-month waiting period, and Medicare follows after 24 months of entitlement.
• An unmarried adult whose disability started before age 22 may qualify on the record of a parent who is retired, disabled, or deceased.

SSI (Supplemental Security Income) is a needs-based program funded by general tax revenue. Your work history does not matter, but your finances do.

• People who have never worked, or have not worked recently enough for SSDI, can still qualify.
• Countable resources must stay at or below $2,000 for an individual or $3,000 for a couple, even if only one spouse applies.
• A spouse’s income can reduce or eliminate the payment, one of the most common non-medical reasons SSI claims fail.
• Georgia automatically extends Georgia Medicaid coverage to SSI recipients, with no separate application.
• Children with severe impairments can qualify when household income and resources are low enough.

Some firms turn away SSI cases because the back pay is smaller and the financial rules add work. We take both.

#cta_start

Not Sure Your Situation Is Worth a Call?

If your health has kept you out of work for months, it is. Tell us what a normal day looks like now, and Burke Barclay will give you a straight answer on whether your claim can win, free and with no pressure to sign.

Request Your Free Consultation

#cta_end

Where Atlanta’s Work Wears People Down

Metro Atlanta runs on freight. Warehouses and distribution centers stretch from south Fulton and Clayton County down the I-75 corridor into Henry County, serving Hartsfield-Jackson and two major railroads. Add construction crews, airport ground staff, hospital workers, and drivers who spend years on the road, and you get a workforce whose bodies often give out before their careers do. A large veteran population across the metro adds its own set of service-connected injuries.

The Atlanta clients we represent most often live with:

• Physical conditions that end careers: herniated discs and failed back surgeries from years of lifting, worn-out knees and shoulders, heart disease and heart failure, diabetes complications such as neuropathy and vision loss, COPD, and cancers that require long, draining treatment.
• Mental health conditions tied to a physical impairment: in our experience, depression, anxiety, and PTSD are harder to win on their own. Paired with a documented physical condition, though, they show a judge why even a seated job is out of reach, and we build both sides of that picture into your file.

View All Conditions

No Insurance? You Can Still Build a Medical Record.

Examiners and judges decide claims mostly on medical evidence. If you stopped seeing a doctor after losing your job and your insurance, that silence in your records can read as improvement. We point Atlanta clients toward care they can afford:

• Grady Health System offers financial assistance to Fulton and DeKalb County residents who meet its income guidelines.
• Mercy Care runs community health clinics across Atlanta with sliding-scale fees for uninsured patients.
• Veterans can be seen at the Joseph Maxwell Cleland Atlanta VA Medical Center.

Getting seen is only half of it. Ask your doctor to write down what you can no longer do, such as how far you can walk before you have to stop. If you use a cane or walker, ask your doctor to note in your records that you need it and when, such as for walking more than a short distance or on uneven ground. Have your doctor issue a formal prescription, even if you buy it off the shelf at the drug store. Without that documentation, the SSA may not count the device at all.

When the SSA Agrees a Case Can’t Wait

Some diagnoses are severe enough that the SSA fast-tracks them. Its Compassionate Allowances program covers conditions such as ALS, pancreatic cancer, and early-onset Alzheimer’s, and these claims can be decided in weeks rather than months. That speed depends on medical proof that is in the file from day one, and we make sure yours is.