USA today condescending column

Post Reply New Topic

Uh, WHAT? Really?? Tawaki, please tell me more! My wife is on SSDI for her physical disabilities. I generally do a lot of overtime trying to support us both, and I don't have time to keep up with the housework a lot, and I'm often not up for it physically. Usually I wind up having to use weekends and vacation days just to clean up to keep from being evicted. Do you know if they would help if I am working but she is not?

It goes by house hold income around here. The usual person is single, unemployed on a combo of SSI/Medicaid with no in home support.

I could get no help because of our house hold income, and married. The services are for people who really, truly have nobody. It is to keep people from winding up in a group home setting.

IF (all states are different in what they provide) you are not legally married, there is a shot, the state might only look at her income and not yours.

*you have female as a gender, and you say wife, so I am assuming same sex couple. My state does not recognize that relationship. Ergo, you aren't "married" per the state, and your income wouldn't matter.*

I have health issues and my husband has Aspergers. It is a struggle for me too. My friend in Arizona gets cleaning help, but she is only on SSI/Medicare and single. Her "husband" lives with her. Had she actually gotten married, all that support would go way. His meager income alone with hers actually just shoves it above the state poverty income line. Also she is 62, and more help is offered to seniors.

The people I know who receive help, are single, unemployed, severely mentally ill, and have no support other than an elderly parent who can't really help anymore.

You have nothing to lose by checking it out for your state. I know there really isn't anything for us

Our situation is...complicated. She's a transsexual but legally still male, so we are actually legally married in all states. Down side is, that means my income probably makes us ineligible for this and other services. It seems really weird to me that the eligibility laws actually encourage people to NOT marry. She'd be eligible for earned income credit if not for our marriage. My grandmother was in a similar situation after grandpa died. She met a great guy at their retirement village and they wanted to marry, but she would have lost a bunch of benefits if she did. I wonder how many seniors have to "live in sin" just to make ends meet.

In the state of Montana, you lose your Social Security benefits if you marry. So what happens when both people are on it? I guess they can't get married then. That was what I was informed when I lived there and they said you lose it if you get married.

That is largely true. It is because of the U.S. Social Security Administration regulations which some in the Congress want to supersede by law. Meanwhile, recipients of SSI and (I believe) SSDI can lose most of their benefits because their married "household" assets and income are too many. This causes the benefits to get reduced somewhat depending on the assets and income. However, retiree benefits at age 65 or 67 years can rarely be reduced.