SSDI

[Guest guest]

Just wanted to let folks know what I went through yesterday at the Social

Security Administration office.

I went in to file for SSDI. I already have been approved for long-term

disability by my company's insurance group but they require that I file for SSDI

as well.

Take Gretchen's advice and file on-line! lol I didn't and I regret it.

I spent an hour in the lobby waiting for my scheduled appointment. My husband

took the afternoon off work to go with me.

I really liked the person (Darryl) that was walking us through the application.

We make way too much to get SSI (Supplemental Income) and I only wanted to apply

for SSDI. Well, apparently that isn't possible. You must also apply for SSI

even if you don't want it or

know that you can't get it. At least, this is required in Texas.

So, they (local SSA) have found a way to bypass the form for folks like me that

won't be approved anyway. It isn't just check the 'no' box but you actually have

to lie about a few things which I didn't realize.

Before we even got into my disability or medical issues, I had to verify the

information on two applications: one was the initial information on the SSDI

and the other was for the SSI.

Well, the way they got around folks filing for SSI is to lie about their marital

status. So, I'm reading the applications for correctness and it states " I have

never been married " on the SSI but it shows that I've been married twice on the

SSDI. Plus the SSI form

lists all my alias (my married names). The guy says that's what they do to get

around the SSI requirement...okay, I understand that.

The last statement says " You declared under penalty of perjury that you examined

all the information on this form and it is true and correct ... " I couldn't

sign that! I know the information is wrong! Darryl said that if I sign it,

they won't have to go into all my financial information since I don't qualify

for SSI anyway. Why don't they just have a 'no' box!

My husband and I both asked Darryl if we could just go do it online because I

don't think it makes you do the SSI stuff. Darryl said 'no', that once you

started an application in person, you had to complete it that way.

Anyway, I wouldn't agree to sign it so my husband and I spent the next two hours

filling out the SSI form completely, disclosing all of our stock and mutual fund

information as well as real estate and bank account numbers. We probably just

set ourselves up for an IRS

audit to boot! By the time we finished all of that, I was in terrible pain and

extremely exhausted, both physically and mentally, and the office was closing so

we never even started on the SSDI form! Darryl gave me the form and told me to

fill it out at home! Well, the reason I went to the office was to save my hands

from

all that writing!

Question: Should I have just signed the false information on the SSI form?

Apparently, everyone else does.

Gretchen or others -- do all states require that you complete an SSI application

in order to do the SSDI application? Is there anyone I could complain to about

this?

Darryl indicated that it was in their electronic forms so the marital status is

the way they've found to bypass it. But it would be my butt that goes to jail

for perjury, not the SSA's!