I was inquiring about low disability payments and came actually your article. I worked diligently my entire life and participate in my community everyday for years before aging into the work force. Which I then continued to support my community. I have an extended education which I received by also working full time. My career was in self employment and as a reward to self employed the Government made a huge list of write offs in lure of no medical, retirement, sick or vacation leave. Of course we are going to use these write offs! They are legal. Although I brought in anywhere between $80,000 - $100,000 per year, i of course had business expenses and legal write offs. Unfortunately I became incredibly ill with 7 diseases/disorders. I’m unable to work I any way. I’m only bringing in $960 per month and simply cannot live. I own no clothes/make up/ car/ house and cannot even feed myself for a month. I have three kids and receive only $700 per month through cal works. They will no longer give me food credit due to a law that was past in 1/2020. Even though we are not surviving. They also will not provide us housing. As someone who was raised to work hard and contribute to my country, this is a huge slap in the face. I’ve tried numerous times to reach out to people or donating communities with no success. I have always had a huge giving heart and still will help my children’s friends in need. My stress is so high that I never get a minute of rest from my conditions. Although I remain positive for my children, I don’t know how much longer I can last. Larry I’m asking if you know of anything that can help us? Also if minimum wage can go up, why can’t disability. I think this is a disgrace to the working class!

Sincerely,

Sheri

Hi Sheri. My expertise is limited to Social Security benefits, so that's the only topic that we deal with in this forum. I don't know what other types of assistance you might be able to receive in addition to your Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits, but a good source for finding out about the services available in your area would probably be the Department of Social Services office that's nearest your address.

What I can tell you in regard to Social Security is that SSDI benefits are calculated using the same basic formula that's used to calculate Social Security retirement benefits. The only difference in most cases is the number of years of earnings used in the calculation. Social Security retirement benefits are based on an average of a person's highest 35 years of Social Security covered wage-indexed earnings, whereas SSDI benefits can be based on anywhere from 2 to 35 years of earnings depending on the age at which a person becomes unable to work.

People who are self-employed pay into Social Security in the form of self-employment taxes, which are collected based on a percentage of a person's net self-employment profits. If a person's net profits are relatively low due to write-offs and business deductions, it follows that their self-employment taxes and their resulting Social Security benefit rate will also be relatively low.

Frankly. I think the chances that Congress will take any action to change the formula for calculating SSDI benefit rates in a manner that would raise your SSDI benefit rate is very slim. The current formula was passed into Social Security's law by Congress effective in 1979, and I know of no significant attempts by Congress since that time to change the formula. Therefore, unless you are able to return to work at some point, it's unlikely that your Social Security benefit rate will increase other than as a result of annual cost of living increases.

Best, Jerry