No legs to stand on regarding Social Security Disability

(Image found via the tangaroo plugin for WordPress. To see more of Paul’s photos, check out his Flickr page.)

Do you own a small business or work as an independent consultant? If so, read on to learn all about my tale of woe – I don’t share it for sympathy or pity. I share it in hopes that someone else can avoid the situation I am in.

Here in the US, when we pay taxes, we also pay for Social Security. This is supposed to be a partial protection against disability and retirement. There is no chance you will get back what you put into it, but the funds are there to protect those that need them.

I have worked hard most of my life. I battled many health problems from an early age. But still I persevered. I worked whenever I could. I am good at many things and luckily was able to work in a wide range of fields. In 1999, I went independent. I consulted, I wrote, I trained. I also had a series of knee surgeries. Add this to the other health problems I had had all of my adult life and you get someone who should have filed for Social Security Disability.

In fact, it was suggested to me regularly by one of my doctors from the time of the 4th of 5 surgeries in three years that I should apply. But I was stubborn. I had been told that if I applied, I wouldn’t be able to work. I felt I was too young to make that choice, even if my body was saying it was the right one to make.

As Bruce and I went through the following years, we worked. He usually had a full time job, I contracted. We spent lots of time and money trying to build our business (and a failed startup). We followed the general rule of thumb that it is better to reinvest in the business. So, we (like many) put the money right back into the business as often as not.

In November of 2008, I took the job with Bizmore. Nine months later, I left it. For 4 months in 2010, I worked with the Social Media Party. Both companies were startups. Both paid well. But, in both cases, it was hard for me to keep up with a full schedule. (Those who know me know and some who worked with me know how true that is.)

Finally, in January of this year, I could no longer fool myself. By July, I knew – I had to break down and apply for Disability. I can’t work full time. Heck, it’s hard for me to work part time – people want things on deadline and there are times when that isn’t going to happen. I am still good at my job, I just don’t always have the energy or strength to do what needs to get done for 8 hours a day. (4 hours, usually no problem. 8, forget it.)

So I applied. And ran straight into the brick wall called “eligibility quarters.”

Here in the US, once you are qualified for retirement benefits, you are always qualified for them. HOWEVER, in order to be eligible for disability coverage, you have to have paid a certain amount into the SS system every quarter for 10 (sometimes more) quarters in the last 10 years.

Because we rolled the money into things to keep the company going, I don’t have enough quarters. If I were to put my disability date down as sometime before 2006, I would be eligible. BUT I would be denied – because I worked for a year at a high paying job.

Another kicker? If I had filed for disability when I was first eligible, I could have taken a “back to work break” and worked at the full time jobs. Once you are approved, you can try to go back to work and probably not be penalized. But you can’t  do it after the fact.

Now I am stuck between the rock of not enough quarters, the hard place of not having applied when I should have, and the wall of not being able to work enough to get the quarters I need to regain my eligibility.

What can you do to keep this from happening to you?

First: Pay yourself first. Even if you are working for yourself, make sure that you pay at least the minimum in SS every quarter and every year.

Second: If you do get disabled, file. Don’t be stubborn like I was. Know what your rights are and what you have to do to keep them.

Finally: Check your annual statements from Social Security. It doesn’t matter how young you are. Disability can happen at any time. Know what situation you are going to be in.

How can this happen? Disability income isn’t something you are entitled to get. It is something you have to be eligible to get. It is easier to get it if you haven’t ever worked than if you have worked but not worked enough recent quarters to fulfill their rules.

As I said at the top, I don’t share this because I want pity or anything like that. I put myself here and will have to figure out how to survive it. I know that posting something like this will limit what work I can get from now on.

I am putting this out there in the hope that I can keep one person from being in the situation I am in. I put this out there in the hope that some day enough people will be bothered about the inequalities that something will be changed. I put this out there so that good people don’t get screwed the way I am getting screwed.