What Is the Age 55 Rule when Applying for SSDI?

People often respond to a question about their age with: “Age is just a number.”

But to the Social Security Administration (SSA), when it comes to disability benefits, age can be an important number—even more so if that number is 55. The SSA considers you of “advanced age” if you are between 55 and 59 years old. Here’s why that matters.

Social Security Disability Programs at 55 or Any Age

If you have a disability, you may be awarded Social Security Disability benefits if you can prove—with solid medical evidence—that your impairment has lasted or is expected to last for 12 months or longer and it prevents you from working.

The Social Security Administration has two programs which may be able to offer you financial assistance—Social Security Disability Insurance—known as SSDI—for those who have worked in the past and made recent Social Security contributions, and Supplemental Security Income—known as SSI—designed to help those with little or no income and work history.

Because the road to benefits can be difficult to navigate, it’s very helpful to hire an experienced local disability attorney to help through the process and present your case.

How You Qualify for Social Security Disability Benefits

The SSA has a set of procedures in place to identify disabilities that are medically eligible for benefits. These procedures are published in a handbook known as the “Blue Book,” and it includes a lengthy list of various disabling conditions known as “listings.”

While few people meet the requirements of the Blue Book listings, you may still be approved based upon your age, education and work experience.

Social Security decides this based on whether you can sustain competitive employment on a consistent, full-time basis, or an equivalent schedule. It is important to note the influence of age.

Let’s look at how age factors in Social Security Disability benefit decisions.

Qualifying for Disability Benefits if You Are 55 or Older

It is a bit easier to win disability benefits when you are past age 55 than if you are in your 20s, 30s or 40s.

Younger people must prove that they can’t perform even the physically easiest sit-down jobs before the Social Security Administration will award them disability benefits.

People closer to retirement age might be eligible for disability benefits even though they can do sit-down jobs because SSA recognizes that age significantly affects a person’s ability to adjust to other work. That’s why the agency has special rules for people of advanced age (age 55 and older).

Social Security uses medical-vocational guidelines, otherwise known as “grid rules,” to determine disability eligibility for individuals over 50 whose medical conditions don’t meet or equal a Blue Book listing, considering factors like age, education, past work, and residual functional capacity (RFC). The rules become more lenient at age 55.

The SSA will consider your age, the work you did in the past, and your RFC.

Your RFC is an evaluation of what you can still do despite your impairments. One of the most important pieces of evidence in a Social Security Disability case is your own treating doctor’s opinion about your RFC.

The RFC categorizes your maximum sustained work capability into a classification of sedentary, light, medium, heavy, or very heavy work. The grid chart will contain your exertion level, and the chart will match it with your age, education, and past work to evaluate your ability to engage in what Social Security calls “substantial gainful activity.”

To sum this up, the grid rules allow Social Security to consider factors which can make it daunting for people over 55 to switch jobs.

An example can show how the age 55 rule works:

Suppose you’re 57 and you worked as a carpenter your entire adult life. However, due to osteoarthritis, you can’t stand and walk for extended periods of time any more.  Even if you could still perform a sit-down job, Social Security will likely find that you meet their criteria.

At 55 or Any Age: No Guarantees with Social Security Disability

Even though you have a somewhat better chance of winning Social Security Disability benefits if you are over 55, there are no guarantees that you will qualify.

If your past work was mostly performed while sitting down, your case may be more challenging.  The road to securing the benefits you have earned is difficult to navigate, and less than one-third of those who initially apply are awarded benefits.

But a federal government study showed that if a claimant had a representative such as a disability attorney when they went to their hearing with a disability judge, they were nearly three times more likely to be allowed benefits than someone who had no representation at all.

If you’re struggling to get the disability benefits you have earned, you don’t need to take on Social Security alone.

The skilled and experienced Social Security Disability lawyers at Nash Disability Law will fight for your rights.

Contact us today for a free and honest evaluation of your disability claim. And when you work with us, we only get paid when you win your case.