Eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a federal cash assistance program administered by the Social Security Administration, is based on financial need. Additionally, applicants must be at least 65 years old, blind, or disabled. The cash benefit is a meager $967 per month (2025) for an individual, however SSI beneficiaries also receive...
MEDICAID’s Multiple Programs
Medicaid is not a single program. The Texas Medicaid system encompasses many health benefit programs based on financial need for children, pregnant women, parents, older adults, and people with disabilities. Elder law focuses on Texas Medicaid programs that fund long-term care, Medicare out-of-pocket costs, and other health benefits for seniors...
Protecting Medicaid from Budget Cuts
Congress is considering extensive budget cuts to Medicaid which would adversely impact millions of people in Texas and the U.S. In response, hospital, physician, and nursing home associations across the country are calling on Congress to protect Medicaid from budget cuts. Severe reductions in federal Medicaid spending would have a catastrophic impact...
Medicaid “Look-Back”
What is the Medicaid “Look-Back” period? Medicaid “looks back” into the past to see if the applicant has given away any money or property in order to qualify for benefits. The length of the Look-Back period is five years before the application date. On the application for Medicaid long-term care benefits, the...
End of COVID Public Health Emergency
Beginning April 1, 2023, states will be allowed to terminate Medicaid enrollment for individuals who are no longer eligible for benefits. Under the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE), the federal Medicaid program has required states to maintain enrollment of nearly all Medicaid beneficiaries, as a condition of receiving increased federal funding during...
Spouse Dies, No Will
What happens when a spouse dies and there is no Will? There is a common, but mistaken, belief that when a spouse dies without leaving a Last Will, the surviving spouse inherits all of the deceased spouse’s estate. Community property laws in Texas and other states have historically provided broader property rights to spouses, particularly...
Title Insurance Scam
If you own a home in Texas, or may buy or sell one, this illuminating article on title insurance is essential reading, Entitled to profit: In Texas, title insurance is a "total scam" . Published by investigative news outlet, Texas Observer, the article exposes the title insurance business as a reverse Robinhood system, in which Texas...
Ending Medicaid’s Waiting Lists and Institutional Bias
The ARC
Autistic Self Advocacy Network
National Health Law Program
Funding Home Care for Elderly and Disabled
Tuesday, August 4th, is call-in day to push for dedicated funding of home and community-based services (HCBS) in the new COVID-19 relief legislation that is being negotiated in the U.S. Senate. This measure is desperately needed in Texas, where HCBS funding has been greatly reduced during the pandemic, resulting in long delays for individuals...
Home Care Alternatives to Nursing Facilities
As the spread of coronavirus threatens elderly and disabled residents of long-term care facilities, it is important to be informed about home-based alternatives to institutional care. Major outbreaks of coronavirus have occurred in long-term care facilities across the U.S., infecting staff as well as residents. Deaths from these outbreaks account for one-third to...