Thomas, here's the lay of the land in Texas until Medicare kicks in. MEDICAID: SSDI by itself doesn't get you Medicaid in Texas. Texas never expanded it. One exception: if your SSDI check is under about $1,014 a month and you have less than $2,000 in countable resources, you may qualify for a small SSI payment on top. In Texas, SSI comes with Medicaid. If that's you, call SSA and apply for SSI now. WHY NO SUBSIDY: The extra subsidies expired at the end of 2025. And in Texas, if your income is under 100% of poverty (about $15,650 a year for one person for 2026 coverage), you get no subsidy at all. A lot of folks living on SSDI alone land right under that line. Your application has to show your real total income for all of 2026, and that includes the unemployment you got this year. True numbers only. OPEN ENROLLMENT: Nov 1 to Jan 15. Sign up by Dec 15 for coverage starting Jan 1. Getting approved for SSDI doesn't open a special enrollment period, so this is your window. MEDICARE MAY BE CLOSER THAN YOU THINK: Look at your award letter for your "date of entitlement." Medicare starts automatically in the 25th month after that date, not 2 years from the day you were approved. Your card comes in the mail about 3 months before it starts. UNTIL THEN: Community health centers charge based on income (findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov). Ask your county hospital district and any hospital about financial assistance or charity care. For brand-name drugs, check the manufacturer's patient assistance program. And stay away from short-term plans. They don't have to cover pre-existing conditions.

@Nelson Granillo yes, you can always ask for a lower monthly payment amount, and it depends on how much you're asking for. If it's really low or over 60 months, then you might have to provide financial evidence.

@Nelson Granillo you did the right thing sending in the SSA-634 with your numbers. Here's how to push that $1,000 down: 1. Do the math from your own 634. Take your monthly income and subtract your necessary expenses (rent, utilities, food, insurance, car, medicine). Whatever is left is what you can actually pay. Offer that amount IN WRITING. 2. Ask them how they got to $1,000. If they left out an expense you listed, point it out and send proof. 3. If the person you talk to won't move, ask for a supervisor, and ask for the decision in writing. 4. Ask about a waiver (SSA-632). There's no deadline. If they find the overpayment wasn't your fault and repaying it would leave you unable to cover basic living costs, they can forgive part or all of it. The "fault" part is the hard one, but it helps a lot if you reported your work and they kept paying you anyway.

@Eddie Weir Short answer for anybody scrolling by: SGA is based on the ACTIVITY, not on the money. Win a bunch on a slot machine - does not count. BE a professional gambler and that is your job - counts. Sell a house - does not count. Be a real estate agent who sells houses - counts. So buying a lien and sitting on it looks like investing. Pulling county records, chasing owners, bidding and filing claims over and over is a business, and SSA will treat it as work no matter what the income is called. Full answer with the trial-work-period traps is on Ryan's own post.

Christy, you are reading it right, and better than most caseworkers will. 1634(c) is the DAC protection: when someone loses SSI only because they became entitled to Disabled Adult Child benefits, the state has to keep treating her as an SSI recipient for Medicaid. The DAC money gets disregarded. That is the entire point of the provision, and Darling is the case that says Missouri does not get to skip it by hiding behind 209(b). On the void of the void: get the appeal and hearing request in within 10 days of the notice date, not the 90. Ten days is what keeps her coverage in place while you fight - past that she goes on spend-down 10/1 and you are arguing to get it back instead of to keep it. Name the provision by cite in the request and ask them, in writing, which specific state regulation they used to count the DAC at full value. That question alone ends a lot of these, because there is not one. With MO P&A out of money, look at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri or Legal Aid of Western Missouri depending on your county, and the National Health Law Program takes exactly this kind of DAC case.

@Bradley Buckwalter that sounds like a standard letter the computer generates. If you didn't work, then you don't need to provide your W-2s or anything. Sounds like they've got some money and they want to know where to deposit it, so I would take what you have. They will tell you if you need anything at that time, but it sounds good if they want to give you some money.

@Bradley Buckwalter the disappearing payment info is normal and it is actually a good sign. When they add children and a spouse, the claim goes back into processing to recompute everybody against the family max, and the online account stops showing the old numbers while that runs. Active means alive, not stuck. Expect separate award letters - one for you, one for each boy, one for your wife - and they usually land on different days. October can still happen, but adding three beneficiaries plus a green card verification can push it a cycle. If nothing has posted by the end of October, call the 800 number and ask them to check for a pending action on the record. Still sitting in November, your Congressman's district office has a caseworker who does this all day, free.

@Dan Finnel it really depends on all your other income. I don't do IRS-type stuff. I try to avoid paying taxes, but you know how that works out.

@Dan Finnel you are on the premium one. You are all set - ask away.