Living with a disability is tough enough, but so is obtaining income support through Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) — especially without help from professionals who know how the system works. About 25 percent of people who are 20 years old today will experience a disability at some p...
A large majority of caregivers looking after family members or friends with special needs say they are so focused on their duties that they put off addressing their own needs — and the COVID-19 pandemic has made things even tougher for them, according to a recent study. No fewer than 70 percent ...
Many individuals engaging in estate planning opt to create a third-party special needs trust to provide for their loved one living with a disability. However, did you know that these trusts may have to pay taxes on any income generated from the trust assets and retained by the trust for future us...
If you currently receive – or are planning to apply for – Social Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), you can now visit the Social Security Administration's recently updated My Social Security portal to complete the following tasks online: Updating your personal information, includi...
On June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization and overturned Roe v. Wade. While this ruling did not make abortion illegal, it will severely limit access to abortions in many states. According to disability rights advocates, this could part...
After a contentious few weeks, the U.S. Senate has passed a bill intended to expand health care access and disability benefits for the roughly 3.5 million veterans exposed to toxic burn pits while serving in the military. During the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, the military incinerated che...
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced a new Medicaid home health benefit designed for children with such medically complex conditions as cerebral palsy, severe autism, muscular dystrophy, and serious mental health illness. To secure the expert medical care children w...
Newly introduced legislation may soon alleviate a challenge families sometimes face when planning for a loved one living with disabilities. In general, any funds left to such a beneficiary should be left in a special needs trust. This can get a bit complicated when the funds to be passed on inclu...
Advances in medical care have doubled the life expectancy of people with Down syndrome (DS), who a few decades ago rarely reached their 30th birthday. This positive development has resulted in a larger population of adults who are living with the mental and physical challenges that accompany this...
Many relatives or caretakers of loved ones living with a disability may at some point need to be able to exert more control over their family member's personal affairs. For parents of children who have a disability, for instance, that time is often when the child is turning 18. However, you may f...
As of mid-July, a new three-digit federal phone number, 988, is available to offer confidential, emergency support 24 hours a day, seven days a week for individuals experiencing mental health crises and emotional distress. For those who are at higher risk for suicide and mental health crises, inc...
Some issues hit close to home. For me this one hit very close. On July 7, a letter issued from my daughter's health insurer, six pages, single spaced, denied coverage for her medication that prevents her from going blind. It demanded expedited response to prevent adverse action from being taken. ...
Affordable, safe housing is one of the most crucial aspects of a person's life, especially if that person has a disability. Parents and guardians must plan for this as early as possible to make sure their loved one has a secure and appropriate living situation long after they either become unable...
In the wake of a recent Washington Post news story revealing that more than 100 individuals who were mistakenly issued disability benefits ended up facing unprecedented fines from a federal program accusing them of fraud, an independent watchdog agency has committed to launching an investigation....
Before Julie Beckett took action, many children with disabilities nationwide were required to live in institutional settings; receiving long-term treatment while living at home with their parents often meant losing their Medicaid coverage. Beckett, whose advocacy work led in part to the creation ...
Many individuals with disabilities want housing that offers them more integration in the community and a greater sense of independence than institutional settings. Yet they have been waiting since 2014 for federal officials to enforce the rules that such community-based housing services are suppo...
For many individuals with disabilities, being able to go online and easily obtain information about COVID-19 vaccinations, as well as schedule or cancel appointments for those vaccinations via the web, has proven difficult. Over the course of the pandemic, the U.S. Department of Justice has enter...
To qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a federal program that provides people with disabilities a monthly stipend, individuals must conform to very strict income and asset limits. Often, SSI beneficiaries who could hold a job opt not to because they worry about losing their benefits i...
If you have a child with a disability, providing for them into the future will likely stand among your top priorities. However, if you also wish to apply for Medicaid to cover your own long-term care expenses, first consider establishing a special needs trust (SNT) for your child. This will allow...
In a decision that has dismayed disability rights advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court has determined that emotional distress is not sufficient to sue for discrimination under federal civil rights statutes. The Court ruled 6-3 against an individual with multiple disabilities who sued a rehabilitatio...
New voting restrictions tripped up voters with disabilities in the Texas primaries in March, offering a foretaste of what to expect in other states with similar constraints on vote-casting, advocates for people with disabilities say. Some voters did not receive absentee ballots, while others had ...
Children with disabilities whose parents are veterans, living or dead, may be entitled to government support. Veterans and their children might not be aware of the fact, but financial assistance is available through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration, w...
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has reopened its more than 1,200 field offices to the public for the first time in two years, and the agency also launched an online tool for first-time Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applicants. SSA closed its offices at the onset of the Covid-19 pand...
ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) accounts offer people with disabilities a great, tax-free way to accumulate money without jeopardizing their qualifications for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and other means-tested programs. Withdrawals are tax-free as long as the money is used for “...
While declining COVID-19 cases are good news, the end of the pandemic could mean millions of Medicaid recipients, including millions of children, will lose their coverage. Federal law has prevented states from terminating Medicaid benefits while the coronavirus health emergency is in place. As Me...
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