VA Disability & Social Security Disability Insurance | VA & SSDI | Social Security | theSITREP

I often get questions, Brian, about how it is that benefits from Social Security Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs interact with one another. So I'd kind of like to walk through a few of these, if you don't mind. And I'd like to start off with Disability Service Connection and SSDI. If I'm eligible or receiving both, how is it that those two interact with one another? Basically, it is possible for someone who's receiving SSDI to get the full amount of money from the VA for a disability compensation. So as long as the disability is service-connected, obviously they're going to get the maximum amount. And as far as SSDI is concerned, that's based on income. They'll get the full amount that they're entitled to. In other words, if I receive both, neither is going to be reduced by receipt of the other. And as long as I follow the rules, I'll be able to keep both. That's awesome. Yeah. Actually, it's really kind of cool when you think about it, because not only will you be able to have the full amount of SSDI that you're entitled to, you're entitled to the full amount of benefit that's available to you through the VA without one affecting the other. Brian, are there circumstances in which someone might be receiving VA disability or VA service connection in SSI? Not likely. The reason is since SSI is a need-based program and all income is going to affect it. Now, we briefly talked about work income, but there's also unearned income is going to affect it. And usually the amount of money that someone would get from a service-connected disability through the VA is going to be more than they would be entitled to if they were only receiving SSI. So usually, because of that unearned income, they wouldn't qualify for SSI. It's very rare. I have seen it, but it's extremely rare because what happens is when they look at SSI, they look at the money that they're getting from the VA, and that's subtracted from the amount of the potential SSI dollar for dollar. So if someone's entitled to $841 in SSI, but they've got $2,500 in VA benefit, that's going to basically wipe out the SSI altogether. Okay. But them being eligible for SSI doesn't remove them from being able to collect VA service connection? No. It's just when the service connection's awarded, that money will wipe out the SSI. You have questions about your VA benefits, and the SITREP has the answers. Visit any of our four YouTube playlists that specifically cover VA healthcare, VA disability, VA home loans, and specialty topics. Choose from any of our playlists and connect with the benefits you earned and deserve.