Getting Credit for Lag Earnings

It is likely that SSDI claims that were approved and paid at either the initial application or reconsideration levels could have had the initial Notice of Award (NOA) letter issued without inclusion of “lag earnings”.

These awards were likely generated from applications which may not have had current or prior year earnings (lag) posted to the Social Security earnings record when the claim was initially filed and subsequently processed to payment.

Depending on the number of years and earnings used in the original SSDI benefit computation, the inclusion of lag (unposted) earnings can have a significant impact (increase only) on the initial benefit amount or subsequent benefits paid.

LTD Plan Provisions

By definition, this recalculation of the SSDI benefit is an earnings-related computation. Most LTD plan provisions provide for offset for earnings-related income increases.

“In addition, if your primary Social Security benefit is increased because of a recalculation of your earnings (including earnings in the year you become disabled), your LTD benefit will be reduced by the amount of that increase.”

Citizens Disability provides benefit verification services to address this particular benefit adjustment. We also identify other “earnings-related” Social Security changes that will enhance your risk management strategies.

This is a vendor provided service that:

• Is outsourced, not creating superfluous workload for your staff
• Proven to create additional SSDI offsets per LTD plan provisions
• Resulting in significant savings and enhanced claim management practices