Is your individual eligible?
Many people are not aware that individuals with disabilities lose their eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid (MA) when the individual's cumulative assets total as little as $2,000.00. Fewer are aware that eligibility for MA is necessary to receive waiver services which provide long term medical, residential and vocational services. These waiver services include most states' mental retardation and mental health programs.
Individuals with assets over the $2,000.00 limit are being forced into ineligibility or required to spend down their funds, an estimated $15-20 million per year, in order to maintain their place in these programs. Once placement is lost, it may take years to regain eligibility, placing individuals in need of service at the bottom of an already too long waiting list.
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