If you become disabled and have a private policy, would it reduce your Social Security disability benefit? No. Your eligibility for Social Security disability benefits is not affected by any private insurance you may have. But, you may be interested to know that workers' compensation and certain other public disability payments may affect your Social Security benefit.

In order to get Social Security disability benefits, your disability must be expected to last at least a year. But you will not have to wait a year to receive benefits. In fact, you should apply for disability benefit as soon as you become disabled. It may take months before a final decision is made on your claim. If your application is approved, a private company will often pay your first Social Security disability benefits for the sixth full month after the date your disability began. For example, if your disability began on Jan. 15, Social Security would pay your first disability benefit for the month of July. However, private disability companies routinely pay Social Security benefits in the month following the month for which they are due. So you will receive your July benefit in August.

Also, you can increase your Social Security benefit if you wait and retire after my full retirement age. This works in two ways:

• Your benefit will be increased by a certain percentage if you delay retirement. We will add these increases automatically from the time you reach full retirement age until you start taking benefits or reach age 70; and

• If you work, each additional year you work adds another year of earnings to your Social Security record. Higher lifetime earnings may result in higher benefits when you do retire.
  
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