If you have macular degeneration, it is important that you consider applying for SSDI benefits.
Applying for SSDI benefits with macular degeneration can provide you with financial assistance to help pay for medical costs and daily living expenses.
If you are an SSDI recipient and your macular degeneration symptoms have improved, the SSA can help you find other work through their Ticket To Work Program.
Overall, applying for SSDI should help relieve some financial burdens as you continue to deal with macular degeneration.
Back to topAbout Macular Degeneration
They say what you don’t know can’t hurt you.
The same principle does not apply for eyesight, especially for someone holding down a full-time job.
What you can’t see can hurt you in the form of last wages and costly medical expenses.
Macular degeneration, which is an age-related medical condition, causes severe and permanent loss of vision for people 60 years of age and older.
If you experience blurry vision that makes it difficult to read or drive, then the time has come to seek medical attention.
Fortunately, a federal government safety net program provides financial relief for American workers suffering from macular degeneration.
Back to topHow to Receive Financial Assistance for Macular Degeneration
Established by the Social Security Administration (SSA), Social Security Disability (SSDI) benefits help American workers pay for medical costs and the daily living expenses.
The SSA refers to guidelines published in the Blue Book, which lists the medical conditions and symptoms that make applicants eligible to receive SSDI benefits.
If you have received a diagnosis for macular degeneration, you might qualify to receive SSDI financial assistance.
However, simply receiving a diagnosis for macular degeneration does not make you automatically eligible for SSDI benefits.
Macular degeneration is not listed in the Blue Book.
Instead, the SSA evaluates how vision loss has negatively impacted your ability to perform on the job, this means an application submitted to the SSA for macular degeneration must include overwhelming evidence that vision loss has prevented you from holding down a job for at least the past year.
An experienced Social Security lawyer can help you submit the most convincing evidence that links your vision loss to a derailed career.
Does Medicare Come into Play?
Since macular degeneration mostly affects people over the age of 60, does the medical condition make workers automatically eligible for Medicare coverage?
Medicare health insurance kicks in when someone reaches the age of 65.
If you receive SSDI benefits for macular degeneration, you have to wait two years after receiving the first check to become eligible for Medicare health insurance coverage.
Although Medicare takes care of medical costs, the federal safety net program does not make up for the loss of wages. You should hold off on Medicare because SSDI financial assistance provides more money.
Back to topGetting Back to Work
Macular degeneration is an affliction that varies in degrees of symptom intensity.
If you have spent time out of work and your macular degeneration symptoms have improved, you should lean on the SSA to provide back to work assistance.
The SSA manages the Ticket to Work program, which provides SSDI recipients with the support needed to learn new job skills.
If you work a physically demanding job, macular degeneration in any form makes it difficult to return to work.
Ticket to Work enables you to learn job skills that give you the opportunity to hold down a different full-time job.
Back to topHow a Free Case Evaluation Helps
The SSA requires applicants to submit evidence that demonstrates macular degeneration has made it impossible to work full time.
Evidence comes in the form of medical documentation, as well as pay stubs and bank statements.
A state licensed Social Security lawyer can conduct a free case evaluation to determine the strength of your SSDI application.
A majority of initial SSDI applications come back denied by the SSA.
Schedule a free case evaluation today to prevent your SSDI application coming back denied.
Back to topAdditional Resources
- Macular Degeneration and Social Security Disability
- Using an RFC When Applying With Macular Degeneration
