Public Benefits

You may be thinking about setting up a trust. Before you commit to a plan, make sure you understand the differences between the two basic types of trusts.  ...

With the Student Earned Income Exclusion, students on SSI may be able to earn additional income without jeopardizing their eligibility for benefits. ...

In a new report, the Government Accountability Office calls for better oversight of organizations that handle the Social Security benefits of recipients who cannot manage their own benefits and lack a family member or friend to do so.  ...

If an ABLE account has been set up for a person with special needs, what happens to the account if the beneficiary no longer qualifies as “disabled” according to IRS regulations due to medical improvement or inaccurate diagnosis?...

Advocates are warning that a little-noticed proposed rule change could result in hundreds of thousands of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients, many of them children, losing benefits.

While crowdfunding through such outlets as GoFundMe or Kickstarter can be a quick and effective way of raising money for a person with specials needs, it could also have a negative impact on the beneficiary’s access to government benefits.

This year's cost-of-living increase for Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance recipients is just 1.6 percent, a sharp drop from last year's 2.8 percent increase. ...

Congress has temporarily extended the federal government’s largest grant program that helps states transfer people with disabilities from institutions into independent living arrangements.

The Department of Health and Human Services will now give states the option to obtain a portion of their federal Medicaid funding via so-called "block grants," although beneficiaries with disabilities should not be directly affected.