What a bad day to have internet.
this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2024
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I’m sure OP was joking but disability checks in USA is a very individualized experience but usually sucks (depending on what categories you may fall under and what funding streams are open). Generally you can not have more than $2,000 total in cash and/or assets (many barely running cars are worth that or more). You usually can work but get often are cut-off completely after making between $1,000-1,500 a month. The actual checks are usually less than a thousand a month barring special needs. Just an overview for anyone unaware of what it is like, obviously in a high cost of living area barring other subsidies (ie housing vouchers) you would have to min/max all costs/income/assets to avoid being perpetually destitute.
Worth noting, at least for SSI, your house (if you have one somehow,) anything inside your house or apartment, and one vehicle do not count as resources. Of course, the vehicle part is an issue because in most states, even living in subsidized housing and every other possible benefit you could have, paying for the insurance basically gives you 0 dollars to work with at the end of the month. Not to mention you can't afford repairs if anything even minor comes up.
Also, as far as working, you can make up to double your disability income plus around $50 before your disability is shut off, and it turns right back on the second you report that you've gone back under that.
In addition, if you were disabled young enough, you can open up an ABLE account that let's you save up to 100,000 dollars. Other people can also deposit into that account for you up to a certain amount and it won't count against you. I technically qualify for an ABLE account myself, but I haven't been able to successfully set one up yet.
Also, some states give SNAP benefits as cash instead of purely food EBT for SSI recipients, which makes life a lot easier because you're pretty much guaranteed the max amount.
I've been surviving by finding subsidized housing where I can easily walk everywhere (and nearby family to support me and shop for me on rare occasions where I can't walk, which is part of my disability,) cooking meals myself so I can keep them as cheap as possible so I can use the rest of my EBT cash on other things I need, and basically just trying not to have a lot of stuff that would be expensive to replace.
Although I did have a nice moment last year where they realized they weren't paying me enough and had to give me back payments. 7,000 dollars just fell in my lap over the course of the year and I started getting a bunch more money every month. Happiest I'd been in a while.
If I'm honest though, probably by virtue of living in Vermont, my life's been far from hard. Around here I randomly get letters sometimes saying they determined I qualify for a benefit I didn't even know existed, so they automatically set me up with it. I'll just randomly start getting extra money out of nowhere sometimes because of that.
Meanwhile, I have an also disabled sibling living a state over and his life's been hell, never having money for things as simple as food and getting his disability shut off because the SSA interviewer didn't want to do their job and just went "Well you don't sound disabled." So yeah, it varies.