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Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Tom Margenau :: Townhall.com Columnist
Cash Prizes Take No Toll on Disability Benefits
by Tom Margenau
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Poll
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Q: I receive Social Security disability benefits. I am a finalist in a contest where I could win $100,000. Will I lose my disability benefits if I win all that money?

A: If you are indeed receiving SOCIAL SECURITY disability benefits, then you will keep those benefits even if you win all that money.

Social Security is considered an "entitlement" program, as opposed to a welfare program. In other words, you worked and earned your Social Security disability benefits. So you keep those benefits whether you have $1 in the bank or $100,000!

But many people confuse the Social Security disability program with the Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, disability program. SSI is a federal welfare program managed by the Social Security Administration. If you are receiving SSI disability benefits from SSA, then winning all that money will make you ineligible for the program. Like any welfare program, SSI is intended for people who are poor and need money. If you win $100,000, you aren't poor and you don't need money -- at least for a while anyway.

So for your sake, I hope you are getting Social Security disability benefits and I hope you win the contest!

Q: I am 67 years old and get about $2,000 per month in Social Security retirement benefits. My wife is 61 and has been getting SSI for several years. She currently gets about $1,100 per month. Is there some point -- soon I hope -- when she can start getting some of my Social Security?

A: Yes -- when you die! So I really don't think you want that to be anytime soon.

I purposely placed your question following the first one because it further illustrates the point I made about people confusing the Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, with Social Security disability benefits. Continued...
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About The Author

Tom Margenau is a social security expert and a columnist for the Motley Fool.

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Reply # 1
Date: Feb 11, 2009 - 4:47 PM EST
S S WIndfall Elimination Provision
You state "Social Security is considered an "entitlement" program, as opposed to a welfare program. In other words, you worked and earned your Social Security disability benefits. So you keep those benefits whether you have $1 in the bank or $100,000!"

I wish congress could understand that social security benefits are earned and a benefit was promised to the individual and should not be touched. I worked for 23 years and paid the maximum contribution (actually it was conficated) to SS all those years. Then I was laid off my job and I found employment with the US government at an entry level job. ie(low Pay) AFTER I began working for the government congress decided that those of us who would eventually qualify for federal pension were double dipping into pension funds and it was unfair to someone (unspecified) so they cut my proposed SS pension VIA the WIndfall Elimination Provision and now my COMBINED federal pension AND my SOCIAL SECURITY do not equal Your second questions $2000 per month benefit. SSI recipients who never paid into the SS system get a higher benefit than I get after haveing worked for it. Private pension recipients are not penalized like retired government employees are penalized they get to collect thier full private pension AND full Social Security.

Can you imagine any congressman accusing someone else of double dipping with their endless sources of pensions that they manage to accumulate.






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