Social Security Insurance
For a person living with a disability you MAY qualify for SSDI. Social Security Disability Insurance IF you worked and payed into SS. This provides APPROVED persons with a monthly income as well for some people Medicare. Medicare will assist with some, but not all, of your medical expenses and you can pay for addition insurance to help cover medication.
Applying is a little easier now that you can do it online. This a a long process and will require medical proof of the disability. Usually medical records to name one. Most people who apply are denied the first time they apply. The next step would be to file an appeal. You can do this yourself or hire an attorney. You have all seen the ads on TV for lawyers who specialize in working with folks to get their SSDI. A word to the wise here...they can get your benefits IF they do a good job BUT they will take a % of your back pay. The pay starts from the day you file IF you are approved. This could be 6 months to God knows when they approve it. This can be a large sum of money if the case takes a long time on appeal.
I was blessed as I had so much medical documentation and my Mom helped me fill in all the forms. At the time I was on heavy meds and very ill so this took more than one sitting to get it all done. I felt it was best that I filled in the forms and my hand writing was really bad so it took a while. THANKS to my Mom for her help with this.
Some folks may have disability insurance that will help with medical bills and still others may have medical retirement as income to help with the bills. Be sure to check this out..I had no clue until my Mom was helping with all the paper work and she called the city of Chesapeake as that is where I was teaching at the time I became ill. I did qualify for disability retirement income because I had worked in a city position for over 10 years. Just check as it will not hurt to do so.
A side note some life insurance companies have a disability rider that will cover your life insurance payments so you still have life insurance but no payment. Again I had no clue till my older sister told me to ask my insurance company about this. I had indeed gotten the disability rider ( I had no clue as I had gotten the insurance so long ago) this will free up some income.
SSDI website: http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10029.html
THIS IS NOT ADVICE FROM A PROFESSIONAL INSURANCE PROVIDER. CHECK WITH SOCIAL SECURITY AND YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY FOR MORE INFORMATION.
