I recently received the following email from a reader of this blog.
I have a claim going now for SSDI and have not recieved a decision yet however after reading your blog I am very curious about your experience with VA disability and SSDI. I am 100% disabled and receive VA disability. How does or can this affect my SSDI claim?
Jonathan Ginsberg responds: Generally, a disability finding by the VA will be of great benefit in your Social Security case. The Social Security law provides that judges must consider VA findings as evidence in your favor. It has been my experience that any SSDI case that also has a 100% VA disaiblity finding has been a winner. Even cases where the VA disability rating is less than 100% are usually approved.
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I receive a number of inquiries about Social Security earnings credits for veterans. In researching this issue, it appears that Social Security has a mish-mash of rules about how to credit service hours for veterans, especially for military service in World War II, the Korean War and even Vietnam.
Here is the link to a page that summarizes rules about Social Security earnings credits for veterans. It appears to me that there is no single answer to this question – it appears that the years of service and the status of the serviceman or servicewoman determine how many credits are awarded.
Social Security has also published a booklet that summarizes the rules for calculating Social Security earnings credit for veterans of military service. These rules include the following:
More on Social Security Earnings Credits for Military Veterans
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