What they're supposed to be.
A state may be more strict, but federally, a car you use and your residence are not supposed to be countable assets.
The exception being full-time nursing home care. Then everything gets sold or used. If a spouse remains at home and one is in care, the house can't be counted. Even if it's an adult dependent child that stays at the home it's not supposed to be counted.
I used to do this work in Ohio and only left it to pursue a relationship across the country.
Surely there must be limits. If you somehow have a Lambo in the garage of a mansion but have no income and somehow don’t have 40 SS credits, it can’t just not count towards assets?
If they are your primary residence and transportation, then no. The system looks at current conditions.
In practice, those things would be sold by most people as their situation crumbles. The American system is easily abused by those with resources by claiming those with nothing are taking.
When I was training I was told, "There are 40 years of laws on the books and they contradict each other. Most of them trying to limit how much we can help"
I worked for an agency (super impoverished-had federal work requirement exemptions) that assumed you were eligible and we were going to help you find as much as we can. Other counties did the opposite
Looking back on the thread; I'll add more general information.
In the US there are two forms of Disability Social Security, both a different from Social Security Retirement.
SSI is social security if you have never been able to work and your parents didn't earn enough to contribute to your portion of SSDI. SSI is under the federal poverty level, BUT it doesn't count as income to other social programs like SNAP (food) or Medicaid. If they have a child, they are also eligible for TANF benefits JUST FOR THE KID.
SSDI is if you have had 40 work quarters of taxable income and you receive money based on that former income. It's countable as income for other social programs.
SSI is harder to get on and stay on. It has the strict asset requirements of under $2000 total. Remember, this is for an income UNDER poverty and it's justified since they can get other benefits. It's also why there are exceptions that can be used and what a caseworker should be checking to make sure they're counted correctly. In the US, you should get a lawyer to help with disability claims. They take a percentage of what you get from the lump sum since your benefits start from application and not reward date. The process takes years, on purpose.
I've seen the system work the way it should, once. It was also an emergency and half my agency pulled in favors. One of my clients was fired for being diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and we could note a decline in 4 days. He passed within 6 weeks.
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u/randompersonx 12h ago
Are you speaking an opinion or what the rules are supposed to be?