How to File for Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits

An application for Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits can be filed online at ssa.gov/app.  You can also contact your local Social Security office for a personal or telephone appointment.  When applying for benefits, you should make sure you have all of your doctors’ names, addresses and phones.  Also, you should know the dates of any hospitalizations and the names of all of your medications.

The only way you can apply for Supplemental Security Income benefits is by contacting your local Social Security office for a personal or telephone appointment.  You cannot file an application for these benefits on the internet.  You will need to know the same information listed above.  In addition, Social Security will need to know any income you are receiving during the entire period you are claiming disability benefits as well as any assets you possess.

Be careful when filing an online application.  We are finding that, when people are applying on line for Disability Insurance Benefits, they are only filing the application itself and think that they have completed all of the paperwork.  However, there are two other forms that must be completed- one involving your medical history and another about your work history.  If you need more time to complete the forms, you can get a Re-Entry Number so that you can return to the Social Security website later.

However, if you do not complete the other two forms, your case will be denied for failure to provide the necessary information.