There is also Medicare, Medicaid and various programs run specifically to assist war veterans who are and may become disabled and unable to continue working. Each of these programs still has specific guidelines and criteria which must be met for the claimant to be eligible for financial aid and assistance, however (for instance, citizens must be sixty five years old to be able to apply for Medicare).



Information needed to apply for a general disability insurance benefit from the Social Security Department includes a social security number, birth (or baptismal) certificate, names, addresses and telephone numbers of all medical personnel that can corroborate and confirm the nature and severity of the disability which is being claimed for (including doctors, case workers, all clinics and hospitals etc), as well as all relevant medical documents pertaining to the case that are already in the claimants' possession, the names and dosage requirements of any and all medicinal treatments taken by necessity as a direct result of said disability, the results of any tests or laboratory findings in regards to the status and nature of the disability, a general summary of the kind of work which the claimant took part in prior to the disability which prevented them from continuing with, as well as employer and/or company details, as well as the claimant's most recent Wage and Tax Statement (also known as W-T form) or most recent federal tax return should the claimant have been working for themselves.



The Social Security Department will assess all of these things, including personally contacting all the claimants' doctors and other medical personnel to verify the claim, and may even go so far as to demand the claimant take a special examination before the claim will be granted.

The sheer amount of work needed to be done to be granted a federal disability insurance can be overwhelming, but there are agencies that can help a claimant assemble the required paperwork, and unfortunately it is a necessity for the benefit to be paid to those who need it most.