Is SSI/SSDI an option?

TonyLM

New Member
Hello everyone -

I have (several times) researched SSI/SSDI (not sure which applies), but each time it appears that my income is too high to get any benefits.
I have full physical/legal custody of my 3 children who have severe problems (ADHD, BiPolar, and several other disorders, varying slightly with each child).

Oldest is 16-1/2, middle is 15-1/2 and youngest is 12-1/2. Oldest just got out (6 mos ago) from an Residential Treatment Center (RTC). My middle son is currently in a placement through county probation dept., but will be moved to an Residential Treatment Center (RTC) through the AB3632 program within the month. And my youngest was just admitted to an Residential Treatment Center (RTC) through the AB3632 program.

My income is ~$85k/year and my wife (their step-mom) brings in about $10k working a little part-time. We own two vehicles, one worth ~$4k and the other worth ~$7k (that one has a loan out on it).


Would the children be able to receive any benefits? Or, would it be a waste of time to jump through the hoops?


Thanks!
 

Pam R

New Member
My guess is your income is too high.

SSDI is for workers who have 40 consecutive quarters of earnings.

SSI is for people who's income is under $800/mo., I think, and are disabled, I think. (I'm on SSDI though husband, so not terribly familiar with SSI.)

I do know that I could not get SSI or SSDI because 1. husband's SSDI is too high and 2. I've not worked in 17 years.

Pam R.
 

LovingAbbey

New Member
I also believe you make too much money. I applied for my difficult child last year and she was found eligible based on her disablity but even working as a temp. then, I made too much money to qualify.

sorry!

Michelle
 

WNC Gal

New Member
Not sure if this applies at all to your situation, but we just got Medicaid funding (in NC) for our 14 year old daughter to pay for long term residential psychiatric treatment. And if the attending physician will sign a certificate of need that the child needs out of home placement for at least 12 months (including various levels of "step down") then they will not consider family income.

In NC, it took us only 11 days to get Medicaid approved after Fed Ex'ing the application to the state office. Once the Division of Medical Assistance issued her a Medicaid # and ruled out considering our income, it took them about 4 days to approve the placement (level of care).

We did do a very thorough job of documenting her needs and included over 60 pages of documentation including history of illness (chronological summaries of her outpatient treatment & outcomes, inpatient hospitalizations, and suicidal episodes/gestures as well as discharge summaries and assessments, list of current medications, person centered plan with goals (developed by our case manager) and an organized cover sheet detailing all of the documents enclosed which included an impassioned plea for expediency as the usual approval process can be up to 45 days. Note: if your child has a complex history, you as parents might be the best equipped to type up the chronological history.

This is a huge accomplishment for us as the program she is attending costs about $500 per day for a PRTC (psychiatric residential treatment center).

I would presume other states offer Medicaid funding of this sort - the key lingo appears to be "family of one", "long term care budgeting", and length of out of home placement - all of these are key factors in being able to get Medicaid without parent's income considered. You could be a brain surgeon and still get this coverage if the child needed this level of care for that duration.

Here's a link to the Medicaid program in NC:
http://info.dhhs.state.nc.us/olm/manuals/dma/fcm/man/MA3325-03.htm

I would be happy to give more details to anyone in NC as I have spent the past month extensively researching all PRTF programs in NC and nearby in SC and TN.
 
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