There are a number of different requirements someone has to meet in order to receive Social Security Disability Insurance benefits (SSDI). Primarily, these are broken into financial and medical components. Date of First Insured is used by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to signify the point at which someone has worked long enough to become insured for SSDI benefits if they become disabled. Being insured does not mean you’re automatically qualified to begin receiving benefits from SSA. Rather, it means you have satisfied the financial requirements to be insured because you’ve worked the necessary amount. For most people, you must have worked at least five years out of the last ten to be eligible for Social Security Disability benefits, but less work is required for those under the age of 31.
There are several additional points to clarify the date of first insured. Many first-time applicants are surprised to learn that the Social Security Disability benefits they’re applying for are actually part of an insurance plan. The work requirement portion of the eligibility criteria exists to ensure individuals have contributed the necessary amounts to the Social Security Trust Funds through Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) payroll taxes, which are automatically taken from a worker’s paycheck., Both employees and employers are required to pay into FICA, and FICA funds both Medicare and Social Security programs for retirees, children of deceased workers, and people who are unable to work due to disabilities.
