Do not become disabled in the US of A unless you are married to some one with a good job and you are already carried on their medical insurance. You are screwed whether you have much of a work history under your belt before you become disabled, or whether you don't. If you do have much of a work history and you become disabled because of mental illness, you are, in some ways, doubly screwed.

Without the work history, your only income will be from a program referred to as SSI, and that assumes you do not have assets in excess of $2000, including retirement savings. For 2007, you will get a maximum of $623 a month. That is what you have to live on. In most States you will also get Medicaid. That $623 is all you get to pay rent, utilities, property taxes, household supplies, vehicle or transportation expenses, over-the-counter medical expenses, a $3.00 co-pay for each prescription drug you have to take and for some doctor visits, most of your food (you will probably get about $40 a month in Food Stamps, clothes, everything. There is some housing assistance available but the waiting lists are very long for section 8 housing, and the public housing projects are very dangerous places to live, even in rural area or a small town such as the one in which I live. Where I live there is no public transportation, no soup kitchen, no rooming houses. A dilapidated, rat infested mobile home in a slum trailer court will cost you $450/month plus all utilities. After you pay your rent, you have $177/month to pay for utilites, soap, toilet paper, food, laundry mat, to pay some one gas money to take you where you need to go, or to keep a car running, licensed and insuranced, and for the co-pays on any prescription medications you take. If you have-let's say--schizoaffective disorder, you are probably prescribed (and yes, really do need) 4 to 6 psychiatric medications a month, at $3.00 co-pay per prescription. If you have any other medical problems that require medication, add $3.00 for each additional prescription.

Do the math. What are going to let go? Let them cut off the heat or the water so you can take your meds and eat? Or visa versa.

In 2005, there were approximately 114,000 adults between ages 18 and 64 receiving SSI disability benefits in North Carolina. That is only 1 of 50 States.

Janie