SSDI Benefits Could Help Those With Stroke

Does Your Stroke Qualify You For Social Security Disability Benefits?

If you have had a stroke, you may qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).

To find out if you qualify, review your condition under the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) five-step sequential evaluation process:

1. Are you working? The SSA defines work as the ability to engage in substantial gainful activity (SGA). If you are working and earning more than SGA, your benefits will be denied. To qualify, your stroke must prevent you from working for at least 12 continuous months.

2. Your stroke must be severe enough to limit significantly your ability to perform basic work activities like:

• Walking, standing, sitting, lifting, pushing, pulling, reaching, carrying or handling.
• Seeing, hearing and speaking.
• Understanding/carrying out and remembering simple instructions.
• Responding appropriately to supervision, co-workers and usual work situations.
• Dealing with changes in a routine work setting.

According to the National Library of Medicine, approximately 34% of the global total healthcare expenditure is spent on stroke. The average healthcare cost of stroke per person, including inpatient care, rehabilitation, and follow-up care, is estimated at $140,048 in the U. S.*

*Source: 1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8307880/.

3. Stroke is listed under the category of impairments known as neurological (Medical Listing 11.04). There are several ways to satisfy the listing criteria for your stroke:

11.04 Vascular insult to the brain, characterized by A, B, or C:

A. Sensory or motor aphasia resulting in ineffective speech or communication persisting for at least 3 consecutive months after the insult.

OR

B. Disorganization of motor function in two extremities resulting in an extreme limitation (see 11.00D2) in the ability to stand up from a seated position, balance while standing or walking, or use the upper extremities, persisting for at least three consecutive months after the insult.

OR

C. Marked limitation in physical functioning in one of the following areas of mental functioning, both persisting for at least three consecutive months after the insult:

• Understanding, remembering, or applying information; or
• Interacting with others; or
• Concentrating, persisting, or maintaining pace; or
• Adapting or managing oneself.

4. If your stroke doesn’t satisfy a medical listing, the SSA continues to the next two steps to review how your limitations and symptoms affect your ability to work. Can you perform work you’ve done in the past? If you can, benefits are denied. If you cannot, the process proceeds to the last step.

5. Are you capable of performing other work? SSA will review vocational factors (age, education, work experience), to determine what other work, if any, you can do. At this step, the SSA enlists medical-vocational rules. If SSA finds there is other work you can perform, benefits are denied. If SSA finds you do not have transferable skills to do any other work, benefits are awarded.