Getting spousal benefits with husband on SSDI for cancer - do I wait until I'm 62?

I can help clarify this. As a spouse of someone receiving SSDI, you generally don't qualify for spousal benefits until you reach age 62 (which is the earliest retirement age for spousal benefits). The "top off" concept refers to when your own retirement benefit is less than 50% of your husband's primary insurance amount, and Social Security "tops off" your benefit to reach that 50% level. However, there's an important exception: if you are caring for your husband's child who is under 16 or disabled, you could qualify for spousal benefits now. Or if you have your own qualifying disability, you might be eligible for spousal benefits as early as age 50.

my uncle got SSDI for cancer to and his wife couldnt get any money until she was 62. its stupid but thats how it works. you might wanna look into whether your state has any caregiver support programs. some states will pay family caregivers especially for terminal patients

When my husband got SSDI for heart failure, I was in almost the exact same situation as you. The SSA told me I wouldn't qualify for any benefits until 62, UNLESS I was caring for our child under 16 (which I wasn't). It's frustrating but that's the rule. One thing to keep in mind - when your husband applies for SSDI, make sure all his work credits are counted correctly. My husband's initial benefit calculation was off by almost $450/month because they missed some years where he worked under a different name (before we were married). Getting that fixed took MONTHS of phone calls.

NOBODY TELLS YOU THIS but when your husband applies for SSDI, he should mention that he has a TERMINAL condition in his application!!! The SSA has a program called Compassionate Allowances that fast-tracks applications for certain severe conditions including many stage 4 cancers. My sister has stage 4 breast cancer and got approved in just 3 WEEKS instead of waiting months or years! Also, did you know there's a 5-month waiting period after approval before SSDI payments start??? It's RIDICULOUS when someone has cancer! They make you wait even when doctors say you might not live long!

I work with cancer patients and their families on benefit issues, and unfortunately there's no way around the age requirement for spousal benefits unless you have a child under 16 or are disabled yourself. The earliest you can receive spousal benefits is 62. However, I'd recommend looking into these options: 1. If your husband's prognosis is less than 12 months, ask the doctor about applying for SSDI with a Terminal Illness (TERI) designation, which expedites the application. 2. Check if your employer offers short-term disability insurance or family medical leave benefits. 3. Contact the American Cancer Society (cancer.org) about financial assistance programs specific to cancer patients. 4. When your husband does qualify for SSDI, he'll become eligible for Medicare after 24 months (regardless of age), which can help with medical expenses.

When my wife got her cancer diagnosis, I spent HOURS trying to get through to someone at Social Security to figure out all this stuff. Got disconnected 4 times and gave up. Finally someone told me about this service called Claimyr that got me through to a live SSA agent in 20 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. Saved my sanity! They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU and their website is claimyr.com They connected me to an agent who explained everything about SSDI and the compassionate allowance program for terminal illness. Made the whole process so much less stressful during an already terrible time.

Sorry about your husband! My cousin got ssdi for cancer and his wife tried to get benefits too but couldn't till she turned 62. But! If you have any kids under 18 they can get benefits on his record! My cousin's teenagers got like $1200 each month which helped a lot since his wife had to cut hours to take him to treatments. Just thought I'd mention that in case you have any younger kids.

To answer your specific question about "topping off" - that term usually refers to the situation where you're eligible for your own retirement benefit AND a spousal benefit. In those cases, SS pays your own benefit first, then "tops it off" with additional spousal benefits if 50% of your spouse's benefit is higher than your own benefit. So yes, that concept would apply to your situation, but not until you reach age 62 at the earliest. And as others have mentioned, taking spousal benefits at 62 instead of waiting until your Full Retirement Age (probably 67 for you) would result in a permanent reduction to about 32.5% of your husband's benefit instead of the full 50%.

the whole system is a mess tbh. my neighbors husband has parkinsons and she had to keep working till 62 even tho she needed to care for him. and when she finally got benefits they were way less than she expected cuz she took them early. don't count on getting much from social security