It is good to hear that the meeting with the home health people went well. I'm sorry you have to go through this roller coaster. Having good help will be essential.

That's all good news, Epic. As for the monies, get yourself named your mother's power of attorney so you can draw money from her bank accounts to pay for all of it. It's a simple form to fill out, I downloaded it and did it myself when my sister was ill. Then you need to get it notarized too.

You belong here now as always, because you are (not were) Buffistas.

Somehow this reminded me of a scene under a wishing well. Goonies Forever!

Epic, much love and hugs to you and your mother. I'm glad to hear that you're getting good advice and finding the support you need. Being a caretaker of that magnitude is damn hard work.

I could use a little advice from those who know about disability. My son has been on disability since he was 18 (he's now 34). He was recently taken off, because they said he didn't work enough hours over the past 5 years to continue to qualify. If he's permanently disabled, how does that work? It's not making a lot of sense to me. And can it vary from state to state?

As for the monies, get yourself named your mother's power of attorney so you can draw money from her bank accounts to pay for all of it.

Actually, I already have Mom's power of attorney, and have access to her accounts. The problem is that she doesn't have ANY money. Her current savings would pay for about 3 days of her care. My current savings would cover maybe 1 week. She's living on just Social Security now (her 401K ran out 2 months ago, because the gods of good timing have turned their faces from me), so it's up to me to find the money, not just to move it around.

Sail, I'm afraid I won't have much useful info for you. I recall receiving SDI when my stepfather passed, when I was a kid. That is federal and through the Social Security Administration. Things got messed up when **work study** earnings fouled up my eligibility to receive disability. The logic being, if I could work the 5-10 hours a week on work study, I could hold a full time job, while going to school. I dunno. It's messed up.

What agency is now denying your son? If it's SSA, then it's feds, and should be universal across USA. If it's a state agency, then it would be a local thing. Once you know which agency, I would suggest hiring a lawyer who specializes in fighting that agency.

As far as I know, he was on SSDI and it's the SSA that's cut him off. I think I should just try to get in touch with an advocacy group of some kind in Arizona. I'm too far away to research this stuff myself and Jesse wouldn't even know where to start with it. He's accepted the ruling, but he's going to be homeless again, soon, with the lack of opportunities for him. He's short rent again by $100 and his rent is only $450 a month in a fleabag studio. He's been going to food pantries to try and keep himself going, but he can only collect so many times from any one pantry. There's a lot of things he could probably apply for, but he is functionally illiterate; he has to have someone help him fill the forms out and that's hard for him to arrange. He said he was going to apply for food stamps this week, but I'm willing to bet he never gets around to it because he can't fill out the form. It's so frustrating being so far away and not being able to help more.

because they said he didn't work enough hours over the past 5 years to continue to qualify

When Hubby was declared permanently disabled, there was no mention about him working any hours. Normally I hear of people getting thrown off because they're working *any* hours. So it's either some local variant or a slightly different program.

I think what they are talking about is that if you were out of the work force for more than a certain number of years before applying for disability you are not eligible for standard disability. (That does not apply to people who were permanently disabled before being old enough to enter the workforce.) There is a more stingy form of disability for people who have not been in the workforce but who have no other source of income.

It took Hubby five years and forests of paper to get the government to agree that he wasn't able to work anymore.