Can Disability payments be lower depending on your living conditions?

Question

I am 51 and have had 27 jobs. The longest one lasted 4 years, barely.

I am on medication for depression and panic attacks, but the meds don't help much.

I plan on getting Disability for the panic attacks and since I'm unable to hold employment because of them and other reasons.

I read today that SSI can decrease payments if you live with someone, but the payments are bigger if you live alone.

At 51, I still live at home with my parents.

I moved out once at 23, when I had tried the roommate thing, but it didn't work out. One of the roommates wasn't paying her share of the rent. Due to this stress, and my parents hounding me daily to move back home, I started having panic attacks.

I pay my parents $100.00 a month to cover the electric, water, stuff like that, but we live in a big house so that really doesn't make a dent in their bills. They just like me to contribute something. We call it "rent" but it isn't really.

I also buy my own food, clothes and personal items. Due to my job situations, I've never been able to afford my own car so while I drive one of my parent's cars, I do pay for the gas and any repair.

My question is, if I got Disability, would I get the entire payment? (I'm supposed to get around $1,000.)

Or, since I live at home still, would the Disability payment get cut a little?

Oh and, once I got Disability I plan on getting my own place. I hate living at home at 51. :(

W.T. Door · Answer

You get disability based on how much you paid into Social Security.

https://www.ssa.gov/disability/disability.html

Anonymous · Answer

SSI disability benefits are lowered if you are living in the same household with your parents, yes. That's because SSI is needs-based and your needs of food, clothing, and/or shelter are being met at least in part by your parents, so you don't have as great a need as someone who doesn't live in the same household as their parents.

When you get SSI, you're basically asking your taxpaying neighbors to help you meet your basic needs to survive, and your neighbors are happy to do it. It wouldn't be fair to expect them to give you more than you need, though. So since your parents are  helping you meet your basic needs, your tax-paying neighbors aren't going to pay you as much because you don't need as much as someone whose parents don't help them out.

Now, you might thing that's unfair, that it's punishing you or your parents for helping you out. It's not unfair, though. Asking your taxpaying neighbors to help is a last resort. What would be unfair is making them pay for your needs you don't actually have because your parents are providing them to you. That'd be double-dipping, like when if you needed $10 for lunch and asked your parents for $10 and got it and asked your neighbor for $10 and got it, walking away with $20 when you only needed $10. That's dishonest. That's fraud.

Can Disability payments be lower depending on your living conditions?

2 Answers