Blue, Yet another Medicaid SSI question

[Fleurdaisy]

This is primarily directed to Big Blue but if anyone has any thoughts on this I'm glad to hear them.

My daughter turned 18 recently and although she has a laundry list of issues (BiPolar (BP), Intermittent Explosive Disorder, ODD, etc.) she has been stable for around 2+ years and is functioning very well to the point she has her own apartment and a part time job. She plans to start at a community college in January. Essentially her dad and I support her though. Between the ages of 12 - 15 she was in Residential Treatment Center (RTC) twice and hospitalized 2 or 3 times. She has a frightening file to say the least.

I was more than a little surprised when this spring at her psychiatrist appointment he turned to me and said, "don't forget to sign her up for SSI when she turns 18. I know her birthday is not too faraway." I told him that I wouldn't forget. My question is, can you, or should you attempt to sign up a very stable child up for SSI? Would there be any chance that she would actually be approved. She still has lots of anxiety issues and the potential for her to become unstable again is always there but she's been so great for so long the possiblity that she might qualify had never really come to my mind. I would never want anything that wasn't rightfully my own (or in this case, her own.) I made too much to qualify for it when she was under 18 so we never even tried. To tell you the truth, it would be very helpful to her while she is in school since I don't want or expect her to work very long hours and then have all that studying to do while she is in school. That's a recipe for instability for a bipolar person. She doesn't sleep especially well as it is.

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

Take care,

Fleurdaisy

 

[OTE]

My question is... why does her psychiatrist think she qualifies? Certainly psychiatrists know about SSI and wouldn't recommend a stable person who is functional apply...

Whether or not she gets approved depends upon how she functions as compared to her peers. How long can she hold a job? Does she lose jobs because of her illness/ behavior?

The process is very long typically. My application for myself was submitted about a year ago as I recall. My bet would be that she'll get turned down twice and will have to appeal in court. here it takes 7 to 8 mo just to get a hearing date... so you're looking at what could be a 2 yr process. This is not money she can count on in the near future. BUT... if she stands a chance of losing the stability then I'd say apply and start the process. Note that at 18 SHE has to apply- this is not something you can do without her.

 

[Fleurdaisy]

I pretty much thought the same thing OTE although all people with Bipolar have the possibility of becoming unstable at any time. I'm thinking that I want to nurture her work ethic and not have her come to depend on anything else unless she absolutely has to. She has a lazy streak sometimes and goodness knows I don't want to in any way encourage that. I know that there were times when my responsibilities were the only thing that got me out of bed in the morning!

Maybe her psychiatrist thinks that she's less stable than I think she is but he always holds her up to be a great success. He's encouraged me to access more services than I actually ever did so maybe. We could have really used the financial help when she was younger but now we're both doing fine so I think I'll just not even worry about this unless, at some point, she actually feels she needs it.

Thanks for your input OTE.

Take care,

Fleurdaisy