Public Benefits

When retirement looms, many military families with children with special needs face a decision about whether or not to choose the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) retirement option. Receipt of SBP payments could jeopardize the child's eligibility for SSI and Medicaid.

First Focus, a bipartisan advocacy group, has recently published it's Children's Budget 2008, a guide to over 180 children's programs which are funded by the federal government.

While there is no such thing as a "typical" divorce, a divorcing couple that has a child with special needs faces even more complicated issues than most, such as the impact of child support payments on the child's eligibility for SSI.

When parents of a child with special needs divorce, income and custody could negatively affect the child's government benefits. Here are several things to look for in regards to this complicated issue.

An overlooked portion of recent Medicare legislation promises Medicare recipients greater access to mental health benefits.

In a recent report the Social Security Administration's Inspector General concludes that banks are illegally garnishing accounts that receive electronic deposits of Social Security benefits.

More than ten years after the measure was first proposed, Congress finally passed a law requiring that insurance companies provide enrollees suffering from mental illness with coverage equal to the coverage they would receive for any other type of condition.

Carve out a bit of time out to cross off one to-do item that will be key to the future of your child with special needs.

Autism and families with special needs children were a surprisingly prominent focus of the final debate between Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain.