How Much Does Mental Health Disability Pay 2021 & 2022

How Much Does Mental Health Disability Pay 2021 & 2022

The daily stress in professional and personal lives can lead to mental health issues and impair an individual’s abilities. In some cases, it may even impair the ability to perform professional commitments and render an individual unable to work. The anxiety and frustration caused by failure to meet financial bills and living expenses can also aggravate the mental health condition.

However, your mental health condition may qualify you for Social Security Disability (SSD) benefit payments that could ease out some of your frustration and anxiety. The Social Security Administration (SSA) pays monthly benefits to qualified individuals for helping them meet livelihood expenses, medical bills, and financial obligations. Unfortunately, the process of applying for and winning SSD benefits is not simple and straightforward. It can get extremely complicated, and a number of applications do get rejected at the initial stage.

Mental Health Disability benefits

If you want to win SSD benefits due to your mental health condition, your mental health disability must fall under any one of the following categories-

• Neurocognitive disorders
• Schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders
• Depressive, bipolar, and related disorders
• Intellectual developmental disorder
• Anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders
• Somatic symptoms and related disorders
• Personality and impulse-control disorders
• Autism spectrum disorder
• Neurodevelopmental disorders
• Eating disorders
• Trauma- and stressor-related disorders

SSD monthly benefit programs

The Social Security Administration (SSA) manages two programs called Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). These programs provide monthly benefits to those who are unable to work because of physical or mental disabilities.

SSDI mental health disability payments

This is intended to provide monthly benefits to those unable to work because of permanent disabilities. To qualify for mental health disability payments under the SSDI program, you must be suffering from a mental health condition that prevents you from working for at least 12 months. The mental health disability must have lasted for at least 12 months or can be expected to last for at least 12 months or result in death.

Moreover, you should have a prior work history and must have paid enough into Social Security taxes through income at a job or self-employment to qualify for SSDI monthly benefits. You must have worked and paid Social Security taxes for at least five of the past 10 years.

The Social Security Administration calculates your average indexed monthly earnings (AIME) based on your average lifetime earnings over a certain number of years. Therefore, if you worked for a greater number of years and had a higher salary, you will receive a greater SSDI monthly benefit than someone who worked for fewer years and with a lower salary. In 2021, the average monthly SSDI benefits stood at $1,277 according to the Social Security Administration (SSA). The monthly benefits could however go as high as $3,148 per month.

In 2022, the average SSDI payments were $1,358 monthly. However, if your income was at a higher level, you could receive up to $3,345 in SSDI payments every month. Since Social Security Disability Insurance is a federal program, the monthly benefits do not differ from state to state and stay the same regardless of your location.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

SSI is a needs-based monthly benefits payment program managed by the SSA. Unlike the SSA, it is not based on prior work history and payment of Social Security taxes. It is based on income and resource limitations and is intended to meet basic needs like food and shelter. It provides monthly payments to disabled adults and children, as well as those suffering from blindness who have income and resources below the defined financial limits. Apart from this, it is also applicable to individuals who are not disabled but are aged 65 or older and meet financial limitations.

If a person qualifies for monthly SSI benefits, such a person will automatically qualify for Medicaid benefits also.

In 2021, the maximum monthly SSI benefits were as follows:

• $794 per month for an eligible individual.
• $1,191 per month for an eligible couple.

As of 2022, the maximum monthly SSI benefits are laid down as follows:

• $841 monthly for eligible individuals.
• $1,261 monthly for an eligible couple.

A couple’s SSI benefits are paid when both spouses have a disability and also meet the income and resource limitations to qualify for monthly SSI benefits. The above-stated SSI monthly benefits are the maximum benefits that can be paid to an individual/ couple. However, the SSI benefits can be reduced depending on the countable income of the disabled person.

Contact an experienced mental health disability lawyer

At MJ Ellis, we have a dedicated team of disability lawyers and attorneys who are committed to helping you win the benefits you need and deserve. Contact MJ Ellis today for a free consultation and case review.