When you apply for SSDI or SSI, the Social Security Administration uses a structured five-step sequential evaluation process to determine whether you meet the legal definition of disability. Understanding how this process works can help you anticipate what reviewers are looking for and how to document your claim effectively. Step 1: Are you working above the substantial gainful activity (SGA) threshold?

If you are currently earning more than the SGA limit (in 2025, $1,620 per month for non-blind individuals), the SSA will generally find you are not disabled at this step. If you’re not working above that threshold, the evaluation continues. Step 2: Is your impairment severe? The SSA determines whether your condition significantly limits your ability to perform basic work-related activities.

Conditions that have only a minimal effect on functioning are found non-severe and the claim is denied here. Most documented conditions clear this threshold. Step 3: Does your condition meet or equal a listed impairment? The SSA’s Blue Book contains specific criteria for many common disabling conditions. If your condition meets those criteria with supporting medical evidence, you are found disabled without proceeding further.

Step 4: Can you perform your past relevant work? If your condition doesn’t meet a listing, the SSA evaluates your residual functional capacity (RFC) — what you can still do despite your limitations — and determines whether you could return to any work you’ve done in the past 15 years. Step 5: Can you perform any other work? If you can’t return to past work, the SSA considers your RFC, age, education, and work experience to determine whether there is any work in the national economy you could perform.

If not, you are found disabled.

Our team at Grech Law Firm Attorney & Counselor helps Michigan clients build claims that address each step of this evaluation. Contact us for a free consultation.

Periodically, statistics about the number of Americans receiving Social Security Disability benefits are presented in ways that imply the program is too large, too easily accessible, or susceptible to misuse. It’s worth taking a closer look at what those numbers actually represent. The approximately 8–9 million Americans receiving SSDI at any given time represent workers who paid into the Social Security system throughout their careers and who have been found, through a rigorous medical review process, to be unable to work due to a qualifying disability.

These are not individuals who simply chose not to work — they have undergone an evaluation process that rejects the majority of initial applicants. The SSDI approval process is, if anything, criticized by disability advocates for being too stringent rather than too lenient. Initial denial rates exceed 60%, and many claimants with genuine, severe disabilities must go through multiple rounds of appeals before receiving benefits.

The process is designed to be conservative, and the numbers reflect it. The demographic composition of SSDI recipients also reflects genuine disability patterns. Recipients skew older, with a large proportion in their 50s and early 60s — an age range when serious medical conditions are more prevalent and when returning to physically demanding work after a disabling injury becomes more difficult.

Comparisons to the populations of other countries — a framing sometimes used to imply the number is shockingly large — don’t account for the size of the U.S. working population, the funding mechanism, or the specific eligibility criteria involved.

Our team at Grech Law Firm Attorney & Counselor helps Michigan residents who genuinely cannot work access the benefits they’ve earned. Contact us for a free consultation.

To qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, you must satisfy requirements in two areas: your medical condition and your work history. Meeting both is necessary for an approved claim. The medical requirement is that you have a physical or mental impairment — or a combination of impairments — that prevents you from engaging in substantial gainful activity and that has lasted or is expected to last at least 12 months, or that is expected to result in death.

The condition must be documented through clinical and laboratory findings, not symptoms alone. The SSA evaluates not just your diagnosis but how your condition limits your ability to perform work-related functions. The work history requirement relates to your insured status under the SSDI program. You must have earned sufficient work credits through employment covered by Social Security.

Credits are based on annual earnings — in 2025, you earn one credit per $1,810 in earnings, up to four credits per year. Most applicants need 40 total credits, with 20 earned in the 10 years prior to disability onset. Younger workers may qualify with fewer credits. Your insured status is not permanent. If you stop working, you can eventually lose your insured status if too much time passes.

This is one reason applying for SSDI promptly after becoming disabled matters — the longer you wait, the greater the risk that your insured status lapses. After applying, your case is reviewed by Michigan’s Disability Determination Services using a five-step evaluation process. This process considers whether you are working above the SGA threshold, the severity of your condition, whether your condition meets a listed impairment, whether you can return to past work, and whether you can perform any other work.

Our team at Grech Law Firm Attorney & Counselor helps Michigan residents understand and document their eligibility for SSDI. Contact us for a free consultation.

Supplemental Security Income provides more than just a monthly cash payment. For eligible Michigan residents, SSI approval opens the door to several important benefits that can significantly affect daily life and financial stability. The monthly cash payment is the primary benefit. In 2025, the maximum federal SSI payment is $967 per month for an individual. The actual amount may be lower depending on your other income.

Michigan does not currently add a state supplement to the federal amount. Medicaid eligibility is one of the most significant benefits associated with SSI in Michigan. Most SSI recipients automatically qualify for Medicaid, which covers medical care, prescription medications, mental health services, and other healthcare needs. For individuals without employer-sponsored insurance or Medicare, Medicaid through SSI can be a critical resource.

Access to other need-based programs often comes more easily once SSI eligibility is established. Michigan residents receiving SSI may qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food assistance), low-income housing assistance, utility assistance through LIHEAP, and other state and federal programs. SSI eligibility doesn’t automatically enroll you in these programs, but it can simplify the qualification process.

For children receiving SSI, early intervention and educational support services may also become more accessible, as SSI status often triggers referrals to additional support programs. ABLE account eligibility is available to SSI recipients who meet the age-of-onset criteria, allowing them to save money in a tax-advantaged account without affecting their SSI resource limits.

Our team at Grech Law Firm Attorney & Counselor helps Michigan residents access the full range of benefits associated with an SSI approval. Contact us for a free consultation.

The word “disabled” means different things in different contexts — but for purposes of Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income, it has a very specific legal definition that determines eligibility for benefits. Under Social Security rules, a person is disabled if they have a medically determinable physical or mental impairment (or combination of impairments) that prevents them from engaging in substantial gainful activity (SGA) and that has lasted or is expected to last at least 12 months or result in death.

Each component of that definition matters. “Medically determinable” means the condition must be documented through objective medical evidence — symptoms alone are not sufficient. “Physical or mental impairment” is broad and encompasses virtually any condition that can be documented clinically. “Substantial gainful activity” refers to performing significant work for pay or profit — in 2025, earning more than $1,620 per month (or $2,700 for blind individuals) generally constitutes SGA.

And the duration requirement means temporary conditions that are expected to resolve within a year generally don’t qualify. The SSA applies a five-step sequential evaluation to determine whether an applicant meets this definition: Is the person currently working above the SGA threshold? Is the impairment severe? Does it meet or equal a listed condition? Can the person return to past relevant work?

Can the person perform any other work given their age, education, and transferable skills? Passing all five steps in favor of the claimant results in an approval. Failing at any step results in a denial at that stage.

Our team at Grech Law Firm Attorney & Counselor helps Michigan residents understand whether they meet Social Security’s definition of disability and how to document their claim effectively. Contact us for a free consultation.