Insurance payment can affect your disability benefit payments depending on whether the insurance benefit payments come from public or private sources. The Social Security Administration allows claimants to receive benefits from things like workers compensation or Medicare as well as some others without incurring a penalty. However, the amount of money received from these sources can impact how much the Social Security Disability payments will be.
Generally, the SSA will base your estimated monthly benefit amount on the income you have received over the course of your work history. However, for those collecting other benefits can possibly have their disability payment amounts reduced if the total of both exceeds a certain threshold.
Keep in mind that having other benefits paid to you in addition to Social Security Disability benefits will not disqualify you from receiving disability. However, the more you receive from other sources, the less you will receive.
For those collecting unemployment benefits, the situation is much different. Because unemployment benefits are paid while the claimant is able to work and actively seeking employment, disability benefits pose a conflict. As a condition of receiving disability benefits, the claimant has to prove that he cannot work, and these two unique programs will cancel each other out.
The guideline for determining the amount that can be collected from Social Security Disability is based on your monthly earnings versus how much you are getting from other insurance sources. The current threshold is 80%, which means that the combined total of insurance payments and disability payments cannot exceed 80% of your average monthly earnings, otherwise your disability benefit will be reduced.
Keep in mind that benefit amounts can be adjusted as your other insurance benefits change. For example, if you stop receiving workers compensation or other insurance benefits, you disability benefits will likely increase. However, if you receive more benefits from other sources, the disability amount can be decreased as well.
