Yes, you can, but you have to be disabled for at least twelve months. Frequently people are approved for benefits for disabilities after they have recovered and even gone back to work. Attorneys sometimes have to ask their clients who have returned to work to take off so that they can go to a hearing with the Social Security Judge to try to get benefits for a period in which they were disabled in the past. Such a period of benefits is called a "closer period" in social security jargon. How far back you can go to claim a past closed period depends on a number of factors including the dates of any past applications and whether they were decided by a social security judge.

One of the good things about receiving a closed period in addition to the past monthly checks to help make up for the earnings you lost in the past is that, when it comes time to calculate your old age retirement check, the amount of which is determined by the amount of FICA taxes you paid in. You will not be penalized by having zeroes put in for the years in which you received a closed period; rather they will fill those years with your usual amount earned. The detailed calculations are not simple, but this is a rough approximation.

Depending on the length of the past closed period and whether the benefits were for SSI or social security disability you may be able to get back Medicaid or Medicare to pay past medical bills.

Under social security administration rules such a closed period, if recent, is supposed to make it much easier for you to be approved if you need to reapply. Some folks essentially bounce in and out of disability pay status depending on how their health conditions wax or wane and how long they can tolerate work with their medical conditions.