My late spouses passed away unexpectedly 08/07/2018??I am disabled and was approved for disability, however from 1 month after his passing when I filed for Disability any other programs I was eligible for. My SS checks came one month following me reporting his death. I was 60 when he passed. I am receiving his “REDUCED RETIREMENT INSURANCE rather than husbands REDUCED SS DISABILITY. I NEVER RECEIVED AN AWSRD LETTER Z(was told my claim was approved by the local field office.
I CANNOT GET A REASON AS TO WHY I’m receiving reduced retirement BENEFITS, RATHER THAN REDUCED DISABILITY BENEFITS. AND WHY WHEN I HAVE REQUESTED AN AWARD LETTER - I either receive nothing or I receive a financial letter of verification. For “widow” —“Survivor “ —Dependent etc. nothing that states disability. My Medicare states after I receive disability for 2 years, Medicare is an option. Because I’m under 62 the supplemental premium is very high due to not being FRA. SO MY MEDICARE IS ONLY $100.00 less than before Medicare (covered CA).
I have spoken to 4 supervisors who always ask me if I ever even applied for disability because all said claim had not gone through processing. They said my claim went through processing approx 6-10 times. Yet no one will show me the disability total # Vs the retirement total monthly income. If you cannot help me please tell me where I can get these answers. Thank you.

Hi. I'm sorry for your loss You can only be eligible for disabled widow's benefits (DWB) from ages 50 to 59. If you meet the requirements for DWB but you are age 60 or older, Social Security still wouldn't consider you to be receiving DWB as opposed to regular widow's benefits. The reason for that is once a widow reaches age 60, there is no difference in the amount to which they are eligible regardless of whether or not they're disabled.

Since you were age 60 when your husband died, there normally wouldn't be any reason for Social Security to make a disability determination because being disabled wouldn't have affected your monthly benefit rate. That's why you were apparently awarded regular widow's benefits as opposed to DWB.

However, you can be deemed to be eligible for DWB benefits between ages 60 and age 65 for the purpose of making you eligible for Medicare coverage. If you don't already have Medicare and if you haven't already filed the required paperwork for deemed DWB, you should be able to call Social Security and make an appointment to do so. If necessary, you can refer the people you speak with to the instructions in section DI 10135.010 of their operations manual (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0410135010).

Best, Jerry