My daughter is disabled and receives SSI but the problem is they base her benefits off my income. Everytime I make too much money her benefits shut off. She loses her medical coverage and misses her Drs for the entire month. Including speech therapy occupational therapy and specialist. She is 5 years old and can't talk. My daughter has down syndrome. She is completely deaf and has cochlear implants. I have been to social security at least 10 times this year trying to find a way for it to stop. My daughter is being medically neglected by a service she should be benefiting from. I need help. Please help me find a way to ensure my daughter gets the coverage she needs. The state does not cover her because she is disabled they tell me I have to go through social security. Desperately need advice.

Hi,

I really wish that I could help you, but my expertise is limited to Social Security benefits. Although Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is administered by the Social Security Administration, SSI benefits are not funded by Social Security taxes and the rules governing SSI are totally separate from the laws governing Social Security.

What I can tell you is that SSI is needs based, and until a child reaches age 18 the income of parents with whom the child lives is considered when determining whether or not the child is eligible for SSI. Furthermore, many of the needs based benefits administered by U.S. states, such as Medicaid, tie eligibility for their programs to SSI eligibility. So, if a child is ineligible for SSI they are also deemed ineligible for many other needs based programs.

For more information about SSI's rules, you may want to try researching the following SSI website: https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/.

Best, Jerry