On occasion we will get a call from a person who is already receiving Social Security retirement benefits who wishes to file for Social Security disability benefits. These inquires have come from people who are well past the current retirement age of 66. Unfortunately what some people do not know is that you cannot collect Social Security disability and retirement benefits at the same time.
If you think about it, this makes sense. If you are already collecting retirement benefits from Social Security you are not thought of as someone who would be in the workforce fulltime, thus not entitled to disability benefits. The Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program is for a disabled worker who has not yet reached full retirement age.
This is consistent with someone who has been on SSDI and then reaches full retirement age. When an SSDI recipient reaches the full Social Security retirement age the SSDI benefits will transfer to retirement benefits automatically and the monthly amount of benefits should not change.
As is the case with many Social Security programs, there is an exception where a person can apply for retirement benefits and SSDI benefits at the same time. Beginning at age 62, those eligible for Social Security retirement benefits can request early retirement benefits, but this comes with a penalty. The penalty for collecting early retirement benefits is that a recipient will only receive about 80 percent of what their full retirement amount would be. Even when a recipient reaches full retirement age, if they decide to collect benefits early, their benefit amount will stay at a reduced rate for the rest of their life.
If you are found disabled during the time you were collecting early retirement benefits you would be eligible for the full retirement amount in the future and would be compensated retroactively going back to the date in which you were found disabled.
For more information about the differences between Social Security disability and retirement benefits click here.
