Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a federal program that provides cash assistance to people with disabilities. Because SSDI is an insurance program and not a "means tested" benefit for people with minimal resources, anyone who meets the program's eligibility requirements can qualify for benefits, regardless of their income and assets. (For more about SSDI,
Mental disabilities take many forms, and not all of them affect a person with special needs' ability to make decisions. In fact, although many, if not most, people with either mental illness or some form of cognitive disability may require significant care, they can still carry out most day-to-day activities. In most cases, people with
One area that causes a lot of confusion with regard to Medicaid is the look-back period. Medicaid, unlike Medicare, is a means-based program, which means that you are only eligible for it if you have very few assets. The government does not want you to transfer all your assets on Monday in order to qualify for
As long-term care insurance premiums rise and fewer companies offer policies, alternatives to traditional long-term care insurance policies are springing up. Previously, we wrote about annuity “doublers” that help pay for long-term care. Another increasingly popular hybrid product combines life insurance with long-term care coverage and offers buyers solutions to a number of problems that have kept people from
