For those of you on disability...

Hi Wood - I'm in Australia of course, not the US, but I'm on full DSP (Disability Support Pension).

My payment is $1562 a month. To give an idea of how that compares to cost of living, a pretty basic 2 bedroom unit around here costs $300-400 pw to rent, groceries for one person maybe $80 pw. Add electricity, gas, phone. If you drive, petrol is about $1.40/L here (roughly US$5.40/gallon, I think). It's certainly a pittance here :(

To clarify the reason why my jaw dropped is because your amount is near 3.5 times more then me. So don't call it a pittance :( I am lucky my gastroparesis barely lets me eat cause I could not afford trying to buy food like a normal person.

I have applied for SSDI and they told me my payments would be $1205 a month, but you also get taxed on some of this, hope this helps answer your question or at least give you an idea, I believe it is based partly on your previous income.
Badheartdude

Jim is right, here in the US, SSD benefits are based solely on what you earned while working. If a person was a low wage earner obviously they will not be paid as much per month as a high wage earner. The spouses income has no bearing on your amount either except on whether the income will be taxable with both incomes combined. I have to pay income tax on my SSD. I cannot remember what the cap is per month for SSD, I know its a little over $2,000 a month but under $2,500. Housing and the cost of living has nothing to do with how much we get paid either.

Laura, I didn't get that pw meant "per week", as rents in the US are usually per month. So rent for you is between $1200 and $1600 Australian Dollars a month?

If I were to become fully disabled now, I believe I would get around $900 per month from U.S. Social Security Disability, because I'm young and haven't had well paying jobs. It would be JUST enough to survive assuming I got help from the government with health insurance - Medicare or Medicaid. At that low an income in the U.S., I would probably qualify for food assistance as well.

In the U.S. there are two disability programs - SSDI and SSI. You can only receive SSDI if you have paid enough in Social Security taxes to be eligible, which means you have to have worked for a certain amount of time. SSI is available regardless of work experience or having paid taxes, but pays a much lower (sub-poverty-level) benefit. However, people on SSI are automatically eligible for both food assistance and Section 8 housing.

First off once again thank you for all the comments.

Laura- It does sound like some of the stuff down in Australia is a lot more than in the US. Your 1562 in the US would be roughly 1608 which seemed a lot but then again each countries set up for disability is difference and taking into consideration apparently you have no medical assistance for your medications I can see what you mean by it being a pittance.

badheartdude- Thank you for your post it was exactly to the point of my question.

Jim1969- Thanks for the link, I had seen that but as I am 21 and my work history was not very long they could not provide an amount from that base. I was fortunate enough to not need very much income previously as I was able to live in a house with two friends who paid 75% of the rent/utilities so my monthly rent cost was lower then normal and what was left of what I got a month went towards medical expenses not covered by insurance as well as food and gas and a cell phone. Which luckily my gastroparesis doesn't require me to have a normal food bill like most people.

Problem is that arrangement for housing no longer exists and I am now on my own so I will be applying for basically a "on your own status" which would require more per month. I hate being on disability and was proud of my previous arrangement not having to ask for much but now I will have to so I was asking what each person got per month to see as a estimated guess what an average amount is. Martial status is a factor at least for SSI as individuals get less then couples. I live in the US which is why I asked what state as in some states supplement the Federal SSI benefit with additional payments so depending where you are you could be getting more. Thank you again for both posts and your input.

straydog- Thanks for the info on SSD, but because of my age SSD is not possible otherwise I would have been on that. With SSI monthly amounts are based off cost of living, as well as state and marital status.

Heather Lynn- Big thank you for your post and the info.

I guess to redefine my question: For those of you on SSI that are single what is your monthly income and what state are you in?

Thanks again to all of you that posted and hope each of you have better less-pain days ahead.

Thanks White Beard, I agree 100% with you I'd rather just be working too. My docs told me to apply for disability in the beginning and I refused and tried to work against their recommendation but unfortunately even working the couple of hours a day I could the few days I did it was making nothing and hurting myself physically more to the point of forcing my hand that I had no choice but to apply. Its nothing short of embarrassing for me as when I was in school even with health issues I had almost perfect grades and was planning on college and getting to my dream job and well that all went out the door with my health getting worse over time. Instead I got to watch as the rest of my fellow classmates got to go onto college or good paying jobs and my career was basically seeing doctors and doing treatments all the time.

Its especially infuriating when there's 2 possible treatments and a medication that could possibly get me back to the point of functionality but there not covered by my insurance at all and way to expensive for me to even dream of paying myself. I'm so sick and tired of my life being at the mercy of my insurance company which would rather spend more money in the long term on worthless medications rather then something that might work. They don't give a crap about your health. Its inhumane with what insurances can get away! As well as not being able to get relief from any medications and having tried every treatment possible that is covered, so your literally stuck with no where to go next in treatment options and left to suffer. All right I'll stop ranting and raving sorry just had to vent a bit.

LordWood, you should definitely look into apply for Section 8 housing assistance. In most places there are very long wait lists, but you should get on it now because you will definitely qualify. In most states you should also qualify for Medicaid, which should cover many things with very low cost sharing. In some states there are different Medicaid insurance companies that cover different things. I'm not sure how one goes about finding out about all the different plans though. If I remember you are in Pennsylvania, and you can find out about what you are eligible for and what would be best for you from your county assistance office.

When you are on SSI, the expectation is that you will also sign up for all the other public programs you are eligible for. That is the only way that SSI is enough to live off. Some states have "lifeline" cell phone service for not that much a month.

Good luck figuring all this out. I was disabled in my early 20s and the finances were a huge mess. I was lucky to have financial support from my family and I was able to work part-time most of the time, which is how I survived. But I also relied a lot on public programs, and I credit them with getting me healthy enough to get back into the workforce.

straydog- I had been told by another about the use of a pacemaker for the stomach, but there's a few issues, first just a few months ago in June I was in for a SCS to try to help with my pain from my RSD which resulted in only making things worse. They were trying to place a trial SCS in between C3 and C4 to help try to block the pain from the nerves around my heart and before they could even get done placing the first lead in out of two, my RSD flipped and my blood pressure and heart rate sky rocketed and I started with severe breathing problems.

Unfortunately even with 5 shots of high dose fentynal and a bolus of ketamine my system did not settle down. While I scared the living day lights out of the rep for the SCS and my anesthesiologist(pain management doc) as well as all the nurses the end result from that was nothing but making my condition worse and nearly killing me once again. So to try to get them to do a gastric pacemaker procedure after that episode I highly doubt they will do it simply for fear of causing my RSD to become worse as well as my insurance probably not covering it.

Which I would also have the issue of it being in the department of my Gastro doctor which is an ego driven doctor that believes he knows all, which even though I've had the gastro-emptying test proving I have gastroparesis and had been in the hospital because of it and have all ready tried the NG and NJ tube feedings as well as reglan and have seen no benefit this gastro doctor believes that because I am still able to at least get the little food I do in that I am fine. The biggest reason he treats the gastroparesis like its nothing is because it was caused by my RSD and this gastro doctor does not believe in RSD.

Even though I've seen the two leading specialists in the world one for adults and one pediatric and have seen countless other pain specialists and hospitals and there is no question whatsoever about my confirmed diagnosis of RSD, he simply believes that because he does not understand this neurological disease (which hes a gastro doctor not a neurologist) that he can just believe its not real. Problem is I am stuck with him as he is a good doctor for Crohns and is at least covered by my insurance. Guess I have to wait till I'm unable to eat/drink anything once again before he will do anything. But I thank you for the suggestion though.

Heather Lynn- Really appreciate your reply and currently I am in the process of working with my SSI worker to get everything changed and find out what my new monthly amount would be as well as the added assistance I can get. I am currently all ready on Medicaid and had it even before I got my disability. Problem is the Insurance company that my medicaid is through has basically got to the point of as I mentioned earlier being inhumane as I have done everything possible in PA in terms of treatments and medications that is covered and am at the point where the next treatment options I have are either out of state or in state but not covered and my insurance is refusing every option were providing to the insurance which I believe should be illegal that if you do everything your insurance covers (basically jump through all there hoops as my doc says) that they should be forced to make exceptions and allow at least one of the options to be allowed as its not like I'm just asking for this without doing everything else first. There basically refusing treatment which is inhumane. My doctor is irate with this insurance not only because of refusing everything but also because of there unprofessional-ism in how it operates & the people you have to speak too. I'm sorry to hear you've had to deal with disability at a young age as well, I'm glad your doing better now and able to be out of the nightmare.

Thank you to the two of you as well as Jim1969 for your posts.

Lordwood, I see in your signature line that you are doing Remicade infusions I am guessing for crohns disease. I did Remicade for 3 and half years for crohns too, but had to stop because I had built up antibodies to it and it induced Lupus. You say the Remicade induced psoriasis, this is very interesting to me as I also have psoriasis. How did your drs come up wioth this dx?

I am on Humira shots now for the crohns but it is also rx'd for psoriasis but it has little affect on mine.

Take care.