Question about SSI ... ??? ...

• By Yolonda
• Posted July 7, 2008 at 5:50 pm
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I did not collect social security while my daughter was in the hospital, but the way it was explained to me was due to her prematurity (born at 23w1d) she automatically qualified for it. The social worker explained to me that the payment while she is in the hospital would be about $30 a month, but once she is released it would be more.

The monthly amount you receive will be contingent on your income. I know some parents recieving as much as $800+ per month, while we received $398 per month. I wasnt working but my husband was. The good news is, if you recieve just $1 in ssi, you will recieve medicaid because its built in the package.

Hope this helped. Good luck to you and your little one.

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• By kbjohnson2008
• Posted July 7, 2008 at 11:00 pm
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My husband and I actually have an appointment with the SS department tomorrow. I will let you know how that goes and will give you as much informatin as I can.

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• By ruddergrl
• Posted July 7, 2008 at 11:27 pm
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I think you fall into it the same way we did...........Babies that are born under a certain birth weight (I THINK it is 1200 grams) are eligible for a special form of Medicaid (through SSI)....not the typical Medicaid.....and this will only be in force for the period that your baby is in the hospital. You might qualify for a different form of SSI after that but, for now, this is what you'll have.

ANYWAY......what it does is anything that your insurance does not pay for...Medicaid will, no questions asked. It's retroactive so, once approved (and you will be automatically if your baby is under the magic birth weight number) everything from the time of birth will be taken care of. Now after the discharge date you'll have to apply for SSI and see if you qualify for a different part of the program but that's later on. We didn't qualify after Riley was discharged so I'm not help for the "after" period.

Please, jump on this NOW. It can take quite a while for all of the paperwork/red tape to go through. You DO NOT want insurance companies breathing down your neck. That is the LAST thing you need to be burdened with. Having Riley in this program was a huge relief. I mean worrying about your child is exhausting enough but worrying about $$ too? It's just too much.

With the program we were also given a pass for free parking in the hospital parking garage. That stuff can get SO expensive so fast....the little things add-up fast!! This didn't apply to us since we lived within relatively close distance to the hospital but I believe they even reimburse some people for the cost of gas and/or hotel $$. You do not have to pay anything for this and you will also receive a montly check for a small amount....I think it was $60?

Riley's 125 day NICU stay cost 1.3 MILLION dollars. I don't know what we would have done without this program....it would have crippled us.

It's really hard to get get information on this because it's such a little known part of the SSI/Medicaid system. Back when we were trying to get info on it I would even call directly to SSI/Medicaid and most people were just scratching their heads. If you don't have a good social worker, or someone who is more experienced at least, they're not good at explaining. Riley was in a couple of different hospitals and we had ONE good social worker who made it all easily understandable so I would always call her even after we were in another hospital.

Good luck and get the paper work done! It will help you sooo much!!!!

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• By tabby33809
• Posted July 8, 2008 at 7:00 am
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My son was born at 27 weeks and qualified for SSI and Medicade. He's been on it the past 8 yrs. The money amount varies on your income. There are a couple months out of the year that we do not get a monthly check due to having 3 checks that month. We mainly got it for the medical. We've seen our checks over the years go from $800 down to $190 a month. Although we could use more money, if I did work all my money would go to copays and medicine because we would have to use private insurance. We figured it out before. With SSI you generally will be able for Medicade. Go for Medipass under Medicade. With that you get a choice of more doctors and transportation to and from any doctor visits. They either will send an indepentend transport, a handi-bus, or a taxi (no money out of your pocket). The state has contracts with the companies. It's well worth it. Hope this helped any. Feel free to reach me off group as well at tabby33809@msn.com
Tabby

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• By beckymossing
• Posted July 8, 2008 at 8:45 am
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Definitely do the SSI. Depending on the state in which you live, it may not be retroactive. It was not for us, so we had to pay out of pocket the first month - which even with the insurance we had wiped out our savings. We did not qualify once the girls were released from the hospital but it made a HUGE difference for our family during my twin girls 4 month hospital stay and numerous surgeries. I don't know where we would be now if we had not had it...

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• By dantoshclark
• Posted July 8, 2008 at 9:08 am
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We qualified as well during Emma's hospital stay. The SSI itself was not that large. The major benefit for us was the Medicaid covering the bills our insurance company denied.

Do a search for "low birth weight infants" on the social security site. That is how I found the majority of information. Your income is not used against you during the babies hospital stay.

Emma was in the hospital for 7 weeks. She received around $30 a month while in the hospital and around $600 the first month she came home.

I agree with the previous post. I don't know where we would be now if we had not had it.

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• By nowlin346
• Posted July 8, 2008 at 1:14 pm
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Go the website for Socia Security it is: SSA.gov website it will explain in detail the qualifictions. Children born under 500 grams automatically qualify for Supplelmental Social Security because they are considered disabled. Call your social security office and they will make an appointment for you. If he does not have a social security number, they will apply for it for you. While the baby is in the hospital he will receive $30 a month, after discharge, the montly amount is based on your income.

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• By kbjohnson2008
• Posted July 8, 2008 at 7:18 pm
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We had our meeting today and filled out all the paperwork to help qulify for SSI for Blake. We were there for about an hour and a half and they said we will hear back from them in about 120 days. Its a long process! They also told us to apply for DSHS since I will be quiting my job, but DSHS denyed us right away because I guess my husband makes to much a month by himself. It sucks. They dont look at any of the out going money ... just the incoming money. I think its all a rip off. The people who really need it, dont get is most of the time. I wish you the best of luck!

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• By kaebaby
• Posted July 8, 2008 at 9:05 pm
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Our experience with the Social Workers was exactly the same. They give you a packet to fill out...ours was halfway done by the social worker. Which I was mad about because I had no idea who she was or why she knew our socials and etc. But nonetheless we were signed up to receive SSI payments. They come once a month and are only $30.00. And the worst part is that you have to set up an account that has your babies name and you listed as the guardian. You also have to give the bank a copy of a few papers from the government and the money is not supposed to be used for anything other than the baby. And from what we were told they can even check your account and see where it was spent at. My bank wouldn't list the account online with my other accounts because the type of account it is. So it is really unfortunate that it does nothing for the parent. Its basically disability payments for the baby and not to help you out. I would fill it out and turn it back in and wait to see what they will send you. Good luck!

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• By Owen24weeks
• Posted July 9, 2008 at 9:31 am
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I agree with pretty much what everyone has said so far, but if you are given the opportunity to do it through the hospital social worker, they can sometimes expedite the process and get it done quicker rather than going to the SS office. Our social worker took care of everything for us and our son had an SS number and was qualified within a couple of weeks.

As far as the money that you receive monthly, we got about $30 per month while our son was in the hospital. Our social worker said to hold onto any receipts for items that we bought for him (clothes, bedding, anything that was used specifically for him) so that we could prove that the money received was spent on him.

If you have private insurance, you will have to sign your son up for it as well. We were told that if you have insurance already, Medicaid will only act as a secondary payor. So, because my husband and I both had separate health insurance policies, he had to be signed up for those first, but Medicaid would pay anything left unpaid by the other two carriers.

The only other coverage issue for us was that once he qualified, coverage would go into effect the first day of the month following his birth. Since my son was born in January, coverage would start on February 1. I think that each state is different though, so that may just depend on where you are located.

We qualified for benefits only while my son was in the hospital. Once he was released, coverage ended. We received one final check for a couple hundred dollars and were done. Knowing we had Medicaid coverage was a tremendous relief for us. Despite having a million dollar medical bill, we only ended up paying our deductible and for part of the ambulance transport to the children's hospital. It gave us great peace of mind knowing that we had coverage.

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• By IanMommy
• Posted July 9, 2008 at 9:35 am
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Well we did after he came home, but it is worth it. You can fill must of it online then do some over the phone. Then you go to the office. Its not hard at all. My and his name is on the check and they didn't ever tell me how or what to spend it on. I'm not sure when it ends but they where very nice.

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• By happybunny202
• Posted July 9, 2008 at 10:54 am
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*WARNING!!!*

I can't believe this is on here today- of all days, when I'm going to the SSA office...

We received SSI for my VLBW son for a year, starting from when he came home from the hospital. We were thrilled to get the help: I left work, and my hubby lost his job in the midst of this mess and hasn't really found a good one since (my son is now 20 months). We first found out from our hospital social worker, then my DH went to the offices to fill out the paperwork.

To cut a very long story short, when we came up for "reapplication," we were told we were not only denied -his Medicaid was immediately pulled- we were told that we shouldn't have qualified in the first place! (Together we make a little more than $2000/mo., which I was told after the fact is the "cut-off."). I'm frustrated and angry that we provided the info. that our original agent asked for, but they're saying "no one started a file on us properly."

Now, we're facing paying back some $6000. we received last year.

We've argued it wasn't our fault, but apparently it makes no difference. I'm going today to officially "plead our case," but what we've been through has been worse than an audit: we've provided endless bank statements, pay stubs- even credit card records (do you know how humiliating it is, to have a government agent question everything you've bought over the last 20 months?).

SSI is a help to many, I'm sure... but be absolutely certain you understand EVERYTHING about the process, and make sure you get names of EVERYONE you've spoken to.

I don't mean to sound bitter, but what we thought was a blessing has turned into a nightmare. Please be sure of what you're getting into.

-Kyrsten

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• By Feistylioness78
• Posted July 10, 2008 at 1:03 am
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My boys got SSI while in the hospital they got $50 a month. Then when we had Christian reevaluated he got denied so now I am going to appeal. He got money for the month that he came home. Ask for a protective filing date when you apply. Brennan just got cleared recently but he got all his back money. The cut off for two parents is 3000. That is what it says in the denial paperwork. Happybunny file an appeal.

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• By Feistylioness78
• Posted July 10, 2008 at 1:06 am
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HAHAHAH! I just read that someone's babies hospital stay was over a million. My son has been in the hospital since he was born 8 months ago. I am annoyed with SSI right now though.

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• By XNJGirl
• Posted July 10, 2008 at 6:18 am
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Good morning,

I had 26 week twins (a boy and a girl) in Nov 06. I too was approached by a social worker to apply for SSI benefits. She told me that if your babies weigh less than 1200 grams at birth, which is 2lbs 12 oz, then you are automatically eligible for SSI benefits. Even if your baby weighs more, you may still be eligible if your baby is considered disabled. While my twins were in the NICU, I received $30 for each. My son came home in Jan 07 and I received $623 - $30 I received on the 1st. When my daughter came home in Feb, I received the same thing. From March 08 to present, I've been receiving a check for each on the 1st in the amount of $623. It's based on your income. I didn't return to work until May 07. The money from SSI has been a Godsend. It helps a lot. Make sure you apply and the best time to do it is while you have no income or aren't working. They also ask you if you are receiving help financially from anyone. They do take that into account. Why I don't know. Make sure you have all your paper work from the hospital. Oh and if you received SSI you are automatically eligible for Medicaid and WIC. The Medicaid will be your supplemental insurance if you have a primary. It helped tremendously with the 20% that United Health Care didn't pay. Also, with Medicaid there is not co-pay. My twins have made their pediatrician rich with having to go to the doc so much. And the WIC takes care of the formula. My twins was put on Enfamil Enfacare 24 cal (expensive) and buying for 2. That WIC came in handy and still is. Not sure how long they will continue SSI, I know for the first 2 years they are automatically eligible.

I hope this info helps.

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• By Avagrandma
• Posted July 10, 2008 at 4:17 pm
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We applied for SSI because Ava weighed below 2lbs 10 oz at birth. The Social Security worker did absolutely nothing except send us letters asking for the baby's name at birth (babygirl Last name). To date it has been a year and we are still trying to find out what happened to our application. I wish you luck in this process.

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