Additional Assistance For Ssi Recipients In Texas
State supplement. Texas does not pay out additional state payments to all SSI recipients in the state, but it does supplement SSI for those receiving institutional care that is paid for by Medicaid. SSI recipients who live in Medicaid-funded nursing homes or intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities can receive a monthly supplement of $60, so long as their countable income is less than $60. The supplement is meant to offset the cost of institutional care.
SSI recipients living in Medicaid facilities only get to keep $30/month of their federal SSI payment. So institutionalized individuals with no countable income who are eligible for the full federal benefit rate of $771 will receive $90/month .
These state supplemental payments are administered by the Texas Department of Health and Human Services . If you live in Texas, you can call 2-1-1 to find an HHS office near you. You can also use the My Texas Benefits site to find the closest office.
Medicaid. All SSI recipients in Texas, regardless of their living situations, are automatically eligible for Medicaid. Medicaid eligibility for SSI recipients in Texas is administered by the Social Security Administration. If you receive SSI, you should automatically be enrolled in Medicaid. If you have not been enrolled, contact your local Social Security office to find out why.
How Do You Qualify For Social Security Disability Benefits
Disability benefits are available to qualified recipients under two programs, Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Income . SSI is a means-tested program for people with disabilities who have very limited means, but SSDI is an insurance program that is available to qualified workers with disabilities regardless of their resources. As of January 2018, some 13.8 million disabled workers and their dependents were receiving SSDI benefits from Social Security.
SSDI pays cash benefits to people who are unable to work for a year or more because of a disability. Benefits continue until you are able to work again on a regular basis, or until you reach retirement age. At that point, the disability benefits automatically convert to retirement benefits, but the amount remains the same. After receiving SSDI benefits for two years, you also become eligible for health insurance coverage under Medicare. The disability program also includes a number of work incentives to ease your transition back to work.
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Who is eligible?
As with retirement benefits, you must have accumulated a certain number of work credits before you can qualify for SSDI disability benefits. However, fewer credits are required to qualify for the disability program than for retirement. You can earn up to four credits per year of employment. How many credits you need to qualify for disability depends on the age you become disabled.
Who is “disabled”?
Benefits For A Disabled Child
A child under age 18 may be disabled, but we don’t need to consider the child’s disability when deciding if he or she qualifies for benefits as a dependent. The child’s benefits normally stop at age 18 unless he or she is a full-time student in an elementary or high school or is disabled.
Children who were receiving benefits as a minor child on a parents Social Security record may be eligible to continue receiving benefits on that parents record upon reaching age 18 if they are disabled.
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Illegal Immigrants Are Benefiting From Social Security
Perhaps this myth is prevalent due to a lack of knowledge of how Social Security works, but Social Security benefits are dependent on a claimant’s work history in Social Security-covered employment. If you begin a job as an undocumented resident without a Social Security number, there’s no way to actually collect future benefits. Fake credentials may fool an employer-but not the Social Security Administration if a claim for benefits is made.
Is It Difficult To Apply For Social Security Disability Insurance In Texas
The Social Security disability insurance program is a federal program therefore, the qualifications for SSDI are based on federal guidelines. However, you apply for disability benefits in the state in which you reside. Therefore, if you are a Texan, you can apply for SSDI benefits at your local Texas Social Security Administration office. You may also apply by calling SSA or by completing an application online at the SSA website. You can also contact a Texas Social Security disability insurance attorney to help you with your application.
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In A Residential Facility
Sometimes it’s not possible to live by yourself or with your family. In those cases, assisted living or a nursing home might be right for you. These facilities are professionally staffed businesses that provide different levels of care, depending on what you need.
Assisted Living Facility
If you choose to live in assisted living facility, you will usually have your own room or apartment. You can bring your things with you to make it feel like home. You will usually eat with others. Services might include:
- Help bathing or getting dressed.
- Someone to make sure you get your medicine.
- Employees checking on you to make sure you are doing OK.
How do People Pay for This?
Two programs may pay for assisted living Community Based Alternatives and Deaf Blind with Multiple Disabilities. Not all facilities offer CBA and DBMD services.
People who don’t qualify for one of those programs will need to use their own money or possibly long-term care insurance to pay for assisted living. You can learn more about long-term care insurance at LongTermCare.gov.
Who Monitors Assisted Living?
HHS licenses assisted-living facilities and inspects them once a year. The agency also looks into complaints made about facilities.
Many times residents have access to a volunteer long-term care ombudsman who can help resolve issues. Ask the facility staff who your ombudsman is.
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Illegal Immigrants And Fraudsters Are Skipping The Line
A Donald Trump ad aired earlier this month implied that illegal immigrants were not only preying on Social Security benefits, they were also “skipping the line” ahead of citizens that had filed legitimate claims. As the Los Angeles Times reports, this is categorically untrue: there is no way to skip the line. In cases where claimants are suffering from life-threatening conditions, there are ways to expedite their claim but, again, the claim must be verified as legitimate first.
There is a public perception that those who suffer from drug abuse or alcoholism will never be granted approval for disability benefits. That isn’t to say, however, that benefits are granted purely on the basis of an alcoholism or drug addiction diagnosis. In the middle of these two myths is the truth while drugs and alcohol don’t always impact your chances of eligibility for benefits, that doesn’t mean it never will.
A disability claim can be denied by Social Security if it is determined that the individual’s drug and alcohol addiction is a major factor that contributes to his or her disability. If the individual, however, would still meet the requirements without the drug and alcohol abuse, Social Security will consider their case.
To determine if drug or alcohol addiction is material to the determination of disability, Social Security will ask the following questions:
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Average Indexed Monthly Earnings
First, the SSA will determine your AIME. To do this, the SSA will adjust, or index, your lifetime earnings to account for the increase in general wages that happened during the years you worked. This is done to make sure that the payments you get in the future mirror this rise.
The SSA will use up to 35 of your working years in the calculation. The SSA takes the years with the highest indexed earnings, adds them together, and divides them by the total number of months for those years. The average is then rounded down to reach your AIME.
You can see an example of how the SSA calculates an AIME on its website.
Musculoskeletal System And Connective Tissue
The SSA reports that the largest category of diagnoses among disabled workers receiving disability benefits was diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue. These disabilities, which represented 32.3 percent of the diagnoses, involve damage to ones nerves, muscles, tendons or ligaments. Examples of this type of disorder include:
- ArthritisAn individual with rheumatoid arthritis, a disorder of the immune system, must experience significant limits on his or her ability to work to qualify for benefits under this medical diagnosis. Rheumatoid arthritis is sometimes referred to as a connective tissue disorder.
- Back pain Abnormal curvature of the spine may affect an individuals ability to walk as well as the function of other body systems. The intensity of back pain and the limitations on an individuals ability to function are considered in a disability diagnosis related to back pain.
- FibromyalgiaFibromyalgia is a complex syndrome in which a person has widespread pain in the joints, tendons, muscles and soft tissues that lasts for more than three months. Claims reviewers will try to assess whether there is adequate evidence to show that the condition limits a persons ability to perform any type of gainful work.
- Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy RSD describes a range of symptoms that may occur from injury, diseases or surgery. RSD is characterized by intense burning or aching pain typically caused by trauma to a single extremity.
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Seriously Do You Really Need To Understand Your Short
Heres the short answer: yes. While its not exactly a fun topic to think about, its important that you familiarize yourself with the details of your planso you dont have to get up to speed when you actually need the benefit.
However, wading through our own plan documents is a step that most of us skip. That informational booklet is immediately relegated to our desk drawer or filing cabinet.
Do you remember the first day you started your job? Its kind of a firestormyou cant focus well or often, says McDonald. So we dont spend a lot of time achieving clarity about the benefit in the beginning. We only acquire an understanding of it when we are in deep need of the benefit.
But particularly if you have an existing problem or condition, youre going to want to know the ins and outs of the benefit thats available to you.
Anybody who goes into a new job and has any kind of serious medical condition that could at some point in time render them unable to work, I think its a good idea to be able to see the actual short-term and long-term disability plan documents to see how they define disability and how they handle pre-existing conditions, adds Bartolic.
Ideally, youll never have to take advantage of your short-term disability benefits. But in the event that the unexpected happens, youll be glad that you took the time to understand whats offered to you. This explainer is a good place to start, but you also need to read through the details of your specific plan.
Does Social Security Consider Mental Illness A Disability
Yes and no. Whether or not an individual with a mental disorder is considered disabled will depend on a variety of factors: severity of symptoms, medical evidence supporting a diagnosis, effectiveness of treatment, the individuals age and education, and the type of work the person has done in the past.
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What Happens If The Adult Child Gets Married
If he or she receives benefits as a disabled “adult child,” the benefits generally end if he or she gets married. However, some marriages are considered protected.
The rules vary depending on the situation. Contact a Social Security representative at 1-800-772-1213 to find out if the benefits can continue.
1-800-772-1213
To speed up the application process, complete an Adult Disability Report and have it available at the time of your appointment.
Social Security Disability Insurance Program
The SSDI program pays benefits to adults who have a disability that began before they became 22 years old. The Social Security Administration considers the SSDI benefit as a childs benefit because it is paid on a parents Social Security earnings record. For a disabled adult to become entitled to this child benefit, one of his or her parents:
- be receiving Social Security retirement or disability benefits or
- Must have died and have worked long enough under Social Security.
Also an adult with a disability, regardless of the age when he or she became disabled, can also apply to receive SSDI based on his or her own work history.
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Is It Difficult To Qualify For Social Security Disability Insurance In Texas
You must meet all requirements set by the SSA to qualify for SSDI benefits. SSDI is a disability program for individuals who worked in jobs covered by Social Security. In other words, you must have paid into the system to qualify for SSDI. If you do not qualify for SSDI, you might qualify for SSI, which is a disability program for low-income individuals who do not qualify for SSDI benefits.
Below is a short overview of the three basic requirements every applicant must meet before he or she can receive Social Security disability benefits under SSDI.
Apply For Benefits Online
You should apply for disability benefits as soon as you become disabled. Follow these easy steps to apply online for disability:
- To start your application, go to our Apply for Benefits page, and read and agree to the Terms of Service. Click Next.
- On that page, review the Getting Ready section to make sure you have the information you need to apply.
- Select Start A New Application.
- We will ask a few questions about who is filling out the application.
- You will then sign into your mySocial Security account, or you will be prompted to create one.
- Complete the application.
You can use the online application to apply for disability benefits if you:
- Are age 18 or older.
- Are not currently receiving benefits on your own Social Security record.
- Are unable to work because of a medical condition that is expected to last at least 12 months or result in death and
- Have not been denied for disability in the last 60 days.
Note: If your application was recently denied, our application is a starting point to request a review of the determination we made.
You may be able to file online for SSI at the same time that you file for SSDI benefits. Once you complete the online process above, a Social Security representative will contact you if we need additional information.
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Texas Lawyers For Texas Veterans
The Texas Lawyers for Texas Veterans is a State Bar of Texas Program to develop and assist pro bono clinics throughout the state for military veterans who otherwise cannot afford or do not have access to the legal services they need. This website also includes a pamphlet entitled Resources for Veterans Seeking Help. For more help, call 512-427-1529.
How Much Can Family Members Receive In Ssdi
Social Security also provides payments for spouses and children of workers who qualified for SSDI benefits.
The amounts that family members can receive including widows, widowers and adult children with disabilities depend on how much the worker with a disability worked and earned.
In late 2017, spouses of workers with disabilities received an average of about $329 per month, according to SSA numbers. Children of workers with disabilities received an average of $358 per month.
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Disability Appeals In Texas
If your initial claim is denied, the next step in Texas is to seek a “reconsideration” from DDS. If your request for reconsideration is denied, then the next step is to ask for a hearing with an administrative law judge . ALJ hearings are administered through Social Security’s Office of Hearing Operations , formerly known as the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review . The main OHO office in Texas is located at Suite 460, 1301 Young Street, Dallas, Texas 75202-5433. Its telephone number is 767-9401.
OHO also operates eight hearing offices that serve Texans. Hearing offices are located in Fort Worth, Harlingen, and San Antonio, plus Dallas and Houston each have two hearing offices. In addition, the hearing office in Oklahoma City serves some Texans close to their borders. To find the office that serves your location, check Social Security’s hearing office locator.
Medicare Coverage If Youre Disabled
We automatically enroll you in Original Medicare after you get disability benefits for two years. However, if your disability results from ALS, Medicare coverage begins sooner, generally the first month you are eligible for disability benefits.
- Medicare Part A helps pay for inpatient hospital stays, care in a skilled nursing facility, hospice care, and some home health care. The taxes you paid while you were working financed this coverage. Its provided at no cost to you.
- Medicare Part B helps pay doctors services, outpatient care, some medical supplies, and other preventive services. You will need to pay a monthly premium for this coverage if you want it.
Most people have both parts of Medicare. If you have questions about this coverage, you can contact Medicare toll-free at 1-800-MEDICARE to speak to a Medicare Customer Service Representative. TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048.
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How Much Will You Get Paid When You Take Short
When you take advantage of your short-term disability benefit, your time off is paidbut that doesnt necessarily mean youll be getting your full paycheck.
The amount youll earn is dependent on your specific plan. Some plans offer full salary replacement, but most dont. Instead, they offer a percentage of compensation with a dollar amount cap.
There are also programs that award you different amounts based on your longevity with the company, says McDonald. If you are there for 10 years and have a 26-week disability period, you might get three months at 100% and then three months at 50%.
If you live in one of the five states where short-term disability benefits are mandated, then the amount youll be compensated will be regulated as well.
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