I have been on SSDI for a while. During that time, I did work. I am not able to work anymore. Am I entitled to an increase since I worked some of time while being on SSDI?

Hi. The answer to your question depends on how much you earned per year after starting your benefits, and how those earnings compare to your earnings in the years prior to when you started collecting benefits on which your initial benefit rate was based.

Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits are based on a variable number of years of a person's Social Security covered wage-indexed earnings. Basically, the older you are when you become eligible for SSDI benefits, the higher the number of years used in the SSDI calculation. For example, the number of earnings years used to calculate the SSDI benefit rate for a person who becomes disabled at age 24 is 2 years, whereas 35 years of earnings are used to calculate the SSDI rate of a person who becomes disabled at age 62 or later.

If you earned more in any years after becoming disabled than you did in your highest previous earnings years that were used to calculate your SSDI rate, then your SSDI amount could potentially be increased. Any such increase should happen automatically, though, so if you haven't received an increase then there's a good chance that you aren't eligible for an increase. If you think that you should be eligible for a higher rate, though, you can submit a written and signed request to Social Security asking for a recomputation of your benefit rate.

Best, Jerry