I would not rule out, for some people and in general, the possibility of working into partial benefits or... what seems impossible... earning sufficiently more than the given benefit amount and being able to drop the fed program. I did not get that far before stenosis limited me. But because of the hassle and government waste in responding to spurious fraud reports regarding me, I had a forced choice. I could choose to waste my precious energy going to unnecessary medical appointments (thereby losing time and energy for the few little life tasks I could do) or lose benefits. Who cares that the fed pays for the unnecessary medical appointments?! (I do. That is a foolish use of federal funds.) My time and energy are valuable and precious, limited forever by injury effects. I finally decided to stop participating in wasting my time, my energy, and someone else's money. If only those who file false reports knew how sick that is, and how devastating it is for some disabled persons, they might not pick on people like me...
I do appreciate the admonition to
be mindful of current SSA rules/regs. For some people, some work is possible. Power to the disabled people!