How Does Age Affect My Chances of Being Awarded Social Security Disability Benefits?
Different Social Security Disability Rules Apply When You Reach Ages 50, 55, and 60. Learn How to Use Them to Win Your Claim and Get Approved for SSDI or SSI Benefits
Your age is a big factor in determining if you win your disability claim and get approved for monthly payments, especially if you are unable to work because of an injury on the job or degenerative condition, such as arthritis.
To understand why your age is so important, let’s first look at the evaluation process used by the Social Security Administration (SSA) when deciding claims.
Here is how it works:
If you have a medical condition that affects your ability to work, but that is not severe enough to meet or equal a condition on the Listing of Impairments, then the SSA will decide what you are capable of doing. This determination, which details both your physical and mental capabilities, is called your residual functional capacity, or RFC.
The SSA will then compare your RFC to the physical and mental requirements of all work that you did in the 15 years before you applied for Social Security Disability benefits.
If the SSA finds you can return to that prior work based on your RFC, then your case will be denied. But if it finds you cannot, then it will consider the vocational factors – your age, level of education, and work experience – to determine if you can do any other work. If you cannot, then the SSA will approve your disability claim.
The purpose of this article is to discuss one of those vocational factors – your age. Age is the second most important factor in determining if you will win your SSDI or SSI claim. Your RFC, which is based on the SSA’s interpretation of the medical evidence, is the first.
As a general rule, the older you are, the easier it is to get Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). That is because special Social Security Disability rules apply if you are over the age of 50, 55, or 60.
Keep reading to learn more about how your age affects your SSDI or SSI claim. And if you are looking for a top-rated Virginia disability lawyer who handles claims in Richmond, Norfolk, Newport News, Virginia Beach, Roanoke, or Fredericksburg, call me for a free consultation: (804) 251-1620 or (757) 810-5614.
What Do Federal Laws and Regulations Say About Age and Disability?
The Social Security Administration discusses age as a vocational factor in disability claims in its regulations and internal policy documents.
Code of Federal Regulations Section 404.1563 states, in part:
We will not consider your ability to adjust to other work on the basis of your age alone. In determining the extent to which age affects a person’s ability to adjust to other work, we consider advancing age to be an increasingly limiting factor in the person’s ability to make such an adjustment, as we explain in paragraphs (c) through (e) of this section.
Commentary published with the SSA’s Medical-Vocational Guidelines, also called the Grid Rules, provides additional insight:
Where age is critical to a decision, recognition is taken of increasing physiological deterioration in the senses, joints, eye-hand coordination, reflexes, thinking processes, etc., which diminish a severely impaired person’s aptitude for new learning and adaptation to new jobs.
Put a different way: The Social Security Administration thinks that the younger you are, the more likely it is that you can acquire new job skills, adapt to new work, and compete with other job applicants even though you have a severe medical impairment. And the older you are, the more likely it is that you will have difficulty adjusting to new work, picking up new skills, and competing with other people when you have a severe medical impairment or combination of impairments.
What are the Age Categories in Disability Claims?
The Social Security Administration uses the following age categories when evaluating disability claims:
Younger Individuals
You are considered a younger person if you are under 50 years of age.
If you are a younger person, then the SSA is unlikely to find that your age affects your ability to adjust to types of work that are different from what you have done in the past.
It is difficult to win a case if you are under 50-years old and suffer from physical impairments only. Many people who are approved for SSDI or SSI when they are under the age of 50 suffer from a combination of physical or mental impairments, or autoimmune disorders.
Individuals Closely Approaching Advanced Age
You are considered closely approaching advanced age if you are 50-54 years of age.
If you are over 50 years of age but under 55-years old and have a severe medical impairment and limited work experience, then the SSA is more likely to find that you will have difficulty adjusting to other work.
Individuals of Advanced Age
You are of advanced age if you are age 55 or older.
The SSA believes that those of you who are age 55 or older will have significant difficulty adjusting to other work. This is reflected in the special disability rules for persons of advanced age, which are discussed in detail later in the article.
Individuals Closely Approaching Retirement Age
You are closely approaching retirement age if you are 60 years of age or older, but have not yet taken early or regular Social Security retirement.
The SSA also has special disability rules for those of you who are age 60 or older.
Does It Matter Where I Fall Within the Age Category?
Usually not.
Disability claimants within each age category are treated similarly in most cases.
For example, a 25-year old disability claimant is treated the same as a person who is 45 years of age. And a 50-year old disability claimant is treated the same as a 53-year old.
Because of where the SSA draws the line on age categories and how important the difference in age categories is to how your disability claim is evaluated, ages 50 and 55 are considered the most important birthdays for SSDI and SSI applicants.
Over 50 and Disabled?
Let’s look at the rules that may apply if you are over age 50 and seeking disability benefits.
Social Security Disability Rules if You Are Age 60 or Older
If you are in the 60-64 age range, then you may qualify for SSDI or SSI if:
- You are limited to no more than light work and do not have specific skills that transfer to other skilled or semiskilled light work that is similar to your past jobs.
- You are capable of medium work but have limited education and no work history or a history of unskilled work.
Here is how the SSA defines these terms:
- A job is similar to your past work if it uses the same types of tools and work processes, and is in the same work setting or industry.
- Light work is defined as a job that involves lifting no more than 20 pounds at a time with frequent lifting or carrying of items weighing up to 10 pounds. A job is also considered light if it requires a lot of walking or standing, or it it involves sitting with frequent pushing and pulling of arm or leg controls.
- Medium work is work that requires you to stand and walk for up to 6 hours in an 8 hour day and to lift or carry 50 lbs occasionally and 25 lbs frequently.
- Unskilled work is work that requires little or no judgment, can be learned in 30 days or less, and is completed with just a few steps.
- Semiskilled work is work that requires you to have some skills but not to perform complex work duties. You may have to stay alert and pay close attention, or even inspect goods and other items. You may also have to move your feet quickly to perform repetitive tasks.
- Skilled work is work that requires you to use your judgment to determine the best way to complete a project or produce certain material. You may also be required to manage people, or to deal with facts, figures, or ideas that are complex.
- The SSA considers limited education as a formal education that ended somewhere between the 7th and 11th grade, with no diploma and no G.E.D.
Age 55 is the “Magic” Age: Social Security Disability Rules if You Are Between the Ages of 55 and 59
For many of my clients, age 55 is often the key age that separates approval and denial of disability benefit claims.
This is because once you reach age 55 you can receive SSDI or SSI benefits if:
- Your medical impairments limit you to light or sedentary work and you do not have skills that easily transfer into new jobs or recently completed education that provides for direct entry into skilled work. Sedentary work is work that requires lifting no more than 10 pounds at once and no more than 3 hours walking or standing in an 8-hour workday.
- Your medical impairments limit you to medium work and you have limited education and no work history or a work history that includes only unskilled work.
If you are 55 or older, the only way you will be denied disability benefits if you are limited to light or sedentary work is if your past jobs gave you skills that easily fit into a less physically demanding job with little difficulty and allow you to perform the new job the same way you performed your old jobs.
Social Security Disability Rules if You are Age 50 to 54
If you are between the ages of 50 and 54, you can win your Social Security Disability claim if:
- You are limited to sedentary work and did not acquire job skills that allow you to easily transfer to a sit-down job with little difficulty.
Those of you with a history of work at the light level or above, such as truck drivers, nurses, construction workers, and warehouse workers at places like Amazon and Walmart, have a good chance of winning your disability claim if you are between the ages of 50 and 54 and are limited to sedentary work because of a back injury, herniated disc, neck injury with radiculopathy, spinal cord injury, or knee, ankle, or hip injury.
Borderline Age Policy: Will the SSA Consider That I am Close to Age 50 or Age 55 When Deciding My Disability Claim?
If you are a 49-, 54, or 59-year-old whose disability claim would be awarded if you were just one year older, then you probably find the Social Security Administration’s disability rules on age unfair. I agree.
Fortunately, there are some situations where the Social Security Administration will consider you as belonging to a higher age category even though you are not there yet. This policy is reflected in the SSA’s Program Operations Manual System (POMS) DI 25015.006.
How Do I Know if the SSA’s Borderline Age Policy Applies to My Disability Claim?
If you are “within a few days to a few months” of reaching a higher age category and using your current age results in a denial, then the SSA gives its administrative law judges (ALJs) discretion to use the higher age category.
Discretion is only allowed, however, if using your actual age results in a denial. If it results in a partially or fully favorable determination, then the ALJ may not use the higher age category. A partially favorable determination means the ALJ finds you disabled under the Social Security Act, but not as of the date you alleged you became disabled. A partially favorable decision often results in less disability back pay.
What Does the SSA Mean By “Within a Few Days to a Few Months?”
The ALJ deciding your SSDI or SSI claim can use the higher age category if you are within six months of turning 50 – or 55-years old at the time of your disability hearing.
Can I Win My Disability Claim if I’m Over 50-Years Old and Suffer from Mental Health Problems, Not Physical Problems?
Yes. I often help people over the ages of 50, 55, or 60 qualify for SSDI or SSI based solely on limitations psychiatric conditions such as depression, PTSD, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, and schizophrenia.
Usually, those claims are not won by using Social Security’s special disability rules for persons over the ages of 50, 55, and 60. Rather, they are won by proving that the mental health condition prevents you from meeting attendance requirements, working with co-workers, supervisors, and the general public, or maintaining attention during an entire workday or workweek.
You can also use the SSA’s special disability rules based on age if you suffer from both mental and physical impairments. The combination of mental health impairments symptoms limiting you to unskilled work and physical impairments limiting you to light or sedentary work can help you qualfiy for SSDI or SSI.
A Top-Ranked Social Security Disability Lawyer For Those of You Who are Over Age 50 and Can No Longer Work
While it’s true that the SSA makes it easier to qualify for SSDI or SSI benefits when you are over the age of 50 or 55, meeting the burden of proof is still difficult. And it seems to get tougher to qualify each year.
But with quality legal representation, you can give yourself the best chance of satisfying the disability rules for 50 and 55-year olds. As your attorney, I’ll develop evidence that focuses on the key issues in your case. Usually, this means obtaining specific evidence that shows you cannot perform any of your past work and that you cannot perform work above the light level.
If you are looking for help with your disability case and live in Virginia, Maryland, D.C., Pennsylvania, or North Carolina, then call me today for a free consultation: (804) 251-1620 or (757) 810-5614. I’m ready to help.
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