I am in the system. I get $624 per month from SSI (supplemental security income). I am on Medicare, Medicaid, and I'm trying to get into Voc Rehab to help me pay for school because I'm tapped out of student loan money. I will lose Medicare in October. I go to the lab once a month and get my blood analyzed for $600, and $1200 twice a year for extra labs. I have not been an inpatient for over a year and a half (my previous record was almost 3 months), although I was in the ER twice and got an outpatient x-ray once. I haven't seen those bills yet. My medications cost about $1500 a month, and that is a permanent figure, as are the labs. I was cut from food stamps because I get PELL grants.
If I get a job, I can't make over $1118 a month or I will risk losing SSI. However, any amount that I do make monthly will go toward the Medicaid spend-down.
I am a high school graduate, and have quite few college credits. I have a limitation on how much I can lift or carry. I get sick easily. I spend a few days in bed every couple of months because of it. I am a part-time college student, but because of certain health conditions, that's about all I have in me.
Being in the welfare system is not out of laziness. It is out of necessity.
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