When you work and pay taxes into Social Security, the coverage you receive is determined by the quarters and years you work. If workers have been employed steadily for ten years on a full-time basis, when they stop working they are generally covered for about five years into the future. The formula used to compute the DLI is beyond the scope of this article. But the Social Security Administration will compute the date last insured in each Social Security Disability case.
Some DLIs are in the past. When you only have a Social Security Disability case – with no Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claim – you should get as much medical and other evidence you can gather from on or before your DLI. You are attempting to prove that your disability began on or before your DLI. If your condition worsened to a disabling degree after your DLI has expired, you will not receive any benefits. Evidence after your DLI expires still matters if you wish to receive ongoing beneifts. Most of our clients seek continuing disability benefits at their hearings. New medical records show the disability continues, and the clients deserve continuing disability checks and the Medicare benefits.
When your DLI is in the future, you will be less concerned with older medical records. Older medical records are often useful to show the background or progression of an illness. Although the state agency in Texas usually only gets records back one year prior to the onset date of disability, we regularly submit to a judge older evidence that demonstrates the progression of our client’s disability.
Please watch for our blog for future a discussion of alleged onset dates (AOD) in disability cases. Also feel free to contact our offices on any legal questions you have regarding Social Security Disability or any other legal matters.
