Atticus offers free, high-quality disability advice for Americans who can't work. Our team of Stanford and Harvard-trained lawyers has a combined 15+ years of legal experience and has helped over 50,000 Americans apply for disability benefits.
Why trust us?More than 432,000 Pennsylvania residents receive disability benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA). They’re proof that you’re not alone, no matter how isolating the application process may feel.
To help you apply for and win disability benefits in Pennsylvania, this guide will explain what you need to know about qualifying, how the application process works, and how to determine the size of your potential benefits checks.
Pennsylvania doesn’t have its own disability program, but residents can apply for disability plans through the federal government or private insurance companies. If you live in Pennsylvania, you may be able to qualify for any of these four programs:
For the rest of this guide, we’ll focus on SSDI and SSI because those are the best options for most Pennsylvania residents with disabilities.
Skip the reading. See which benefits you qualify for in 2 minutes or less. Take the quiz.To qualify for disability in Pennsylvania or any other state, you have to meet specific medical and technical criteria — and be able to clearly prove to the SSA that you meet those criteria. SSDI and SSI have their own technical requirements, but they share medical requirements.
The main medical qualification for disability benefits is that you have a disability or medical condition that makes it impossible for you to work. Your doctor will need to verify that they expect your condition to last for at least one year or the rest of your life.
You can automatically meet this medical requirement if you have a terminal condition that’s listed on the SSA’s compassionate allowance list.
If you’re over age 50, qualifying for disability is easier. At that age, you only need to prove that you can’t keep doing the work you already do. Qualifying under the age of 50 can be harder because you have to prove that your condition makes it impossible for you to do any job — even jobs you haven’t done before or would need to receive additional training to do.
To qualify for SSDI, you must meet the following:
1. You’re 66 or younger.
2. You have enough work credits, which you earn based on how much you’ve paid enough in Social Security taxes during your career. People who’ve worked for at least five of the last 10 years often qualify. The best way to check how many work credits you have is to create a free mySocialSecurity account on SSA.gov.
To qualify for SSI, you must satisfy two criteria:
The SSA awards Social Security disability benefits for many different conditions, as long as those conditions make it impossible for the applicant to work and are expected to continue for more than a year.
The most recent SSA data shows the most common conditions among Pennsylvania residents who receive disability benefits:
Of the 34.2% of Pennsylvania residents who have mental health conditions, the most common are:
The main SSDI and SSI application is the most important part of the process. But to successfully apply for disability, you’ll also have to fill out some common supplemental forms. The first is a work history report, which asks you to describe your previous work experience. The second is a function report, where you’ll explain how your condition affects your daily life.
You can apply on your own, though working with a disability lawyer can greatly simplify the process because they’ll know what forms you need, how to answer the questions well, and what medical documents the SSA will want from you.
The reality is that the application is time-consuming. Set aside plenty of time to fill it out, which includes gathering all required documents. A lawyer can help manage your materials for you, but here’s what you can do:
You can submit your application in one of three ways:
If you choose not to work with a lawyer, consider applying in person at an SSA office. The SSA staff can explain what the questions are asking. That said, they can’t give you personalized legal advice, like to say whether or not your answers are strong. If you do choose to work with a lawyer, they can help you fill out and then submit the application on your behalf.
Working with a disability lawyer is the best way to get help with your application. They can strengthen your responses, answer all your questions, complete the application for you, and follow up with the SSA to keep the process on track. This can make the application process much less stressful.
Here at Atticus, we provide free legal advice on filling out your application and finding the right lawyer for your case. Fill out our 2-minute disability quiz to get started.
After you apply for disability, the SSA will review your application and confirm that you meet all technical requirements. Disability Determination Services (DDS) will verify your medical eligibility, which often requires a quick consultative exam with an SSA doctor. DDS may also request additional medical information from you.
The SSA will then make a decision on your application. This process takes about six months on average.
Unfortunately, getting approved for disability is difficult — even if it’s already impossible for you to work. Most people have to go through several stages of appeal. But your chances of getting approved are higher at some stages.
After the first time they apply, more than 70% of applicants are rejected. Then applicants can file for reconsideration. The SSA rejects 90% of reconsiderations. But even if you do get rejected, you can appeal for a court hearing in front of an administrative law judge (ALJ).
Appearing in front of an ALJ is intimidating, but your chances of getting approved are higher at this stage than at any other stage. As of 2022, more than 50% of applicants who appeared in front of a judge won their claim. Applicants with a lawyer are also three times more likely to win benefits.
Applying for disability benefits can be a waiting game. Because most applications go through multiple rounds of appeal, it takes an average of more than two years for the SSA to approve a disability application.
In 2022, applicants waited an average of 6.1 months, or 184 days, to receive an initial decision. It takes an average of another 6.1 more months, or 183 days, to receive a decision on reconsideration requests. After that, the amount of time it takes to get a hearing depends on which SSA hearing office handles the appeal.
In Pennsylvania, the average wait time to get a hearing is about 14 months. That means the average Pennsylvania applicant waits about two years and three months from the time they apply until the time they’re approved.
The table below shows average wait times at the eight Pennsylvania hearing offices.
Hearing office
Wait time
