Understanding & Navigating Family Finances With a Disability
If you become disabled, whether on the job or not, it can lead to profound life challenges, including your financial well-being. If you’re the primary breadwinner or help support a family, any loss of income or medical expenses can create significant burdens on family finances with a disability present. A sudden disability or chronic condition can force you to leave your job or delay career advancement. It can also make it difficult to meet your basic needs and impede saving for the future. Fortunately, overcoming obstacles arising from a disability is more manageable through the various support systems and resources available to Las Vegas individuals and families. From accessing benefits to vocational training programs and job placement services, these services help you navigate the financial impacts of disability and work toward achieving your goals.

How Does Disability Financially Impact Families?

The CDC estimates that one in four US adults lives with a disability. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), one-sixth of households with a severely disabled head of the family eventually fall below the poverty line. Once you understand the numbers behind these statistics, it’s easy to see why this happens. For instance, the average annual cost of raising a child with autism is $60,000. The average lifetime cost for someone with a congenital disorder like cerebral palsy can exceed $1.5 million. No matter the cause or condition, the loss of a disabled person’s income significantly impacts everyone’s well-being. You can reduce the financial burdens and emotional stress of a disability by tapping into various avenues of support such as:
  • Disability insurance
  • Government assistance programs
  • Community-based resources
Various nonprofit organizations also offer financial aid, job training, and emotional support to help you meet these challenging times and maintain a sense of stability and resilience.

How Can I Prepare Myself or My Family For a Disability’s Financial Impact?

Managing family finances with a disability is challenging. If you need assistance in dealing with a sudden or chronic disability, benefit programs you can explore and tap into include:
  1. A Supplemental Needs Trust provides financial assistance that doesn’t jeopardize your eligibility for government benefits like SSI or Medicaid. It’s designed to cover items not provided for by these assistance programs.
  2. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) provides financial support from the federal government to low-income disabled people, including children, for basic needs like food, shelter, and clothing.
  3. Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) offers benefits to people who’ve worked and paid Social Security taxes but are now disabled and no longer able to work.
  4. Medicaid provides health insurance coverage to low-income individuals, including those with disabilities.
Other programs that allow states to provide support to people who wouldn’t typically qualify for regular Medicaid benefits are:
  • Home community-based services waivers (HCBS) allow people to remain at home instead of going into a nursing facility or similar setting.
  • TEFRA Medicaid for families affected by a child’s disability that requires institutional-level at-home care.
Las Vegas is home to many support services for those in need, including due to a sudden or chronic disability. Contact Taurean Consulting Group to learn more about your options.