That's pretty outrageous. I understand, now, what you mean about Medicare "premium" - Part B coverage. I thought that you were paying that to a PPO/HMO for Medicare administration.

In my state, you would receive your SSDI benefit, a state SSI benefit and Medicaid. And a plethora of other benefits. That $575 SSDI benefit must be the across-the-board low-ball for SSDI as that's exactly how much one of my neighbors draws. But he receives a $423 SSI monthly benefit which is in addition to receiving Medicaid, which makes his monthly Medicare Part B (& D?) payment. He also receives $180+ in "food stamps" monthly, gets the frozen meals-on-wheels cases weekly, has a housekeeper out 3 times a week and he pays no medical or pharmaceutical co-pays.

I'm not eligible for any food assistance or SSI but I do have Medicaid which, along with my Medicare, pays for everything else health related. I just wish that I could get some false teeth. No one covers teeth, it seems.

Texas is Texas, I know. My late father's ancestral homeland for 200 years. It just seems as if you should be able to draw more benefits than you currently do. I don't know your disability but there are frequently just generalised non-profit agencies for the disabled who know of programs that might help and may even be so good at getting through the applications and red tape that it may be a matter of signing your name on a 40-page document.

I started out withe such a non-profit, something Independent Living Agency (or close). In the end, the only thing that they did for me was to find me a nice used sofa. I did everything else from my nursing home bed with an old laptop.

A lot will depend on your current living conditions, but surely you would qualify for more assistance! If you like, I can check with some of the agencies that I've dealt with here and see if they have counterparts in Texas?

You're not doing anything wrong... you just didn't have anyone to give you a jump-start.