Millions of beneficiaries with disabilities with SSDI will receive their checks on different dates depending on their birthdates. For those receiving benefits from both programs simultaneously, the rules change completely.
If you’re one of those people who wait for their Social Security payment with the same regularity as they wait for their morning coffee, it’s worth checking the calendar before March arrives. This year, the dates haven’t changed much from last year, but the amounts have, and there are details that can make the difference between covering your rent or falling short by a few days.
Finding Your SSDI Benefits Date
For those who began receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) after May 1997, the payment schedule works like this: If you were born between the 1st and 10th of any month, the deposit arrives on the second Wednesday, which in March 2026 falls on the 11th.
If your birthday is between the 11th and 20th, you have to wait until the third Wednesday, the 18th. And if you were born between the 21st and 31st, the fourth Wednesday, March 25th, is your date.
Some SSDI Recipients Have a Different Date
However, there’s a group that isn’t included in that Wednesday list and often goes unnoticed in press articles: people who receive both SSDI and SSI simultaneously. This group receives their SSI on the first day of the month—that is, February 27th, instead of March 1st—and their SSDI on the 3rd.
Two deposits in three days. It might sound convenient, but to understand why this works this way, we first need to understand who forms this group and their situation.
Social Security Increased Disability Requirements
Concurrent beneficiaries—as the SSA technically calls them—are people who meet the medical requirements for SSDI, which requires a disability severe enough to prevent work, but whose work history is short or whose historical wages were so low that their SSDI benefit is insufficient to cover their basic needs.
This is where SSI, Supplemental Security Income, comes in. It is financial assistance program and fills the gap up to the maximum federal amount. In other words, SSDI pays what the person earned through their years of work, and SSI supplements the difference.
Many of these beneficiaries worked in informal, part-time, or seasonal jobs. Others became disabled at a young age, before accumulating enough credits in the system.
SSDI Recipients Who Have Both Medicare and Medicaid
This group also has an important distinction: by receiving SSI, they automatically qualify for Medicaid in most states. And if they have received SSDI for more than 24 months, they also have access to Medicare.
This makes them one of the few segments of the population with dual health insurance coverage—federal and state—something of enormous economic value that doesn’t always appear on the monthly bank statement, but it’s there nonetheless.
The Maximum SSDI Payment in 2026
Regarding the amounts for 2026, the SSDI has a maximum monthly ceiling of $4,152. However, it’s important to clarify that this figure corresponds to individuals with decades of high income; the actual average benefit is much lower.
SSI, on the other hand, establishes a federal maximum of $994 per month for individuals and $1,491 for eligible couples. Some states add their own supplement to this amount—California and New York being among the most generous—but the federal minimum is $994. Both amounts reflect the 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment that took effect in January of this year.
For those who receive both programs simultaneously, SSI is usually a small amount: the difference between SSDI and the federal SSI maximum. If someone receives $750 in SSDI, SSI might cover about $244 more to reach the $994 threshold. Small in absolute terms, but significant when every dollar counts at the end of the month.
