Every individual wants to be secure mentally, physically,
financially, and socially as well. It leads to the birth of the term known as
social security. Social security is defined as the security given to people
when they are unable to earn money due to some reasons. Before applying to get
the merits of the social security, it is important to be familiar with the
types of the social security benefits. There are 4 basic category of these
benefits, which people can get. These benefits according to different
categories are paid in accordance with the record of your earnings. These are:

- Disability benefits
- Retirement benefits
- Dependent benefits
- Survivor benefits
These benefits all come under different programs like the
OASDI or Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Program. This is the
official name of the social security. So, start knowing different benefits, a
person can get under these categories when it comes to the social security
reimbursements:
Benefits associated with the retirement
Employees, who have employed in ‘covered employment’ for an
adequate numbers of years are qualified for retirement merits when they
withdraw the work at age 62. It generally means that an employee must have
worked a total of at least 10 years of work at a non-organizational job. Under
this category, a person may select to get receiving the benefits of the
retirement at any time after he or she reaches the age of 62.
But, there are several incentives to wait till the full
retirement age. This age is between 65 and 67 according to the date of the
birth of a person. The amount of the benefits will be decreased by some
percentage levels in a permanent manner if a person starts claiming them prior
to reaching the full retirement age.
In addition to that, another incentive is based on the fact
that when you keep working, the retirement benefits will be boosted up
slightly, but permanently for every year till age 70 to put in the claim. People
should keep in mind that there is no need to delay the retirement benefits to
be availed unless they have a valid reason to do that. Furthermore, regardless
of the time you wait to have those benefits, the amount you take will be only a
small percentage of your earnings, possibly.
The benefits to the dependents
Social security benefits are not limited to the retirees
only. In fact, the dependents will also obtain the benefits of the social
security. For that, it is good to know the terms and conditions. If you are the
partner of a disabled or retired employee who is eligible to get the benefits
of the social security in terms of retirement or disability, you and your
disabled or minor children may be permitted to get those benefits after
calculating and assessing the earning record of the employee. It is completely
true and factual, whether or not you really depend on your partner for your
support.
Benefits provided for the disability
These benefits are given to employees, who are disabled or
become a victim of the disability during the working time period. In any case,
if you have not reached the age of the retirement, but have fulfilled all the
work-related needs and requirements and are contemplated disabled under the medical
guidelines made by the social security program, then you are qualified to receive
the benefits that are roughly equal to what your full retirement profits would
be.
Survivors aids
It is also one of the major categories that fall in the
social security benefits. If you are the current partner of a worker who is
eligible for disability or retirement benefits of the social security, then you
are allowed to take the delivery of these benefits. You and your disabled or
minor kids may be authorized to advantages based on the late partner’s earnings
records.
If you are qualified for any of the social security
benefits, then it is an ideal thing to cover these benefits on time. You can
take the help of the internet for more information related to these benefits. Sometimes,
you may have confusion regarding your earning’s records. If this is the case,
then you are allowed to see your earning’s records and evaluate them for
correcting the mistakes if any. In some cases, the employers make some mistakes
in the maintenance of the earning records of workers. Due to these mistakes, employees
may lose the social security benefits. This is why it is advised for every
employee to check the earning’s record after a short period of time like once
every year and know whether or not it is right or needs some corrections to
make.
Do the same-sex spouses get qualified for these benefits?
Upon receiving the social security benefits, people make
their life comfortable and simple. They do not need to worry about their needs,
how to survive in the life as they obtain these social security benefits. There
are some cases, in which people have a lot of confusion related to the same-sex
spouses.
Based on the current law, people with same-sex and they are
spouses, in this case, they are eligible to avail these benefits, only if the
state in which they reside accepts their marriage and prove it a valid
marriage. At present, this means that any of the states, which have accepted
these kinds of marriages in addition to the New Mexico, which will accept legal
same-sex weddings from other states as well.
Applying for the SS benefits
Last but not the least, you need to know the right way to
apply to these benefits. To apply for SS retirement or other kinds of benefits,
you can use the internet. On the web, you can find many sites, which will help
you in claiming the benefits of the social security no matter whether they are
related to the retirement, disability or other kinds of categories. It is also
a wise idea to have the complete information regarding the application to the
Supplemental Security Income.