What happens to SSDI at full retirement age?

SSDI does not end at full retirement age and need not be reapplied for. Social Security converts disability benefits to retirement benefits automatically at that age. The monthly amount is the same, because both are calculated from the same earnings record.

Full retirement age by birth year. For people born in 1954 or earlier it is 66. It rises by two months a year for those born from 1955 through 1959, and it is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later.

The disability freeze. Years in which a person was disabled are generally left out of the average that determines the retirement benefit, so a period of disability does not lower the amount.

Medicare. Medicare continues. A person on SSDI is already covered after the waiting period, and Medicare is available to everyone with enough work credits at 65. See disability and Medicare.

The cutoff that does matter. SSDI is for people who have not reached full retirement age. A claim for disability benefits has to rest on a disability that began before that age, and benefits for months after full retirement age are paid as retirement benefits. A disability claim that is still pending at full retirement age can still produce benefits for the earlier months.

See SSDI vs. early retirement at 62 and back pay.