SSI Disability in Tennessee

• The Tennessee area is part of the SSA's Atlanta Region, which covers the southeastern U.S. Eight states make up this region -- Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. Residents in Tennessee who receive SSI are part of the nine million people in the region who receive over $6 billion in benefits each year.
  
  

Who can Apply for SSI Disability Benefits?

• SSI benefits are paid to you and other applicants in Tennessee who meet the program's disability and income requirements. Some of the requirements include applicants being either 65 years of age or older, blind or having qualifying physical challenges. Children who are blind or have other physical challenges are also eligible to receive SSI benefits.
  
  

What Incomes and Resources Count Towards Your Eligibility

• The SSA has several national limits on the amount of income and resources applicants are allowed to have, but states can have their own guidelines. As of 2011, your monthly income from wages must not surpass $1,433 if you're single or $2,107 if you're married. If your monthly income isn't from working, the limit is $694 if you're single and $1,031 if you're married. Generally, your resource values cannot exceed $2,000 if you're single or $3,000 if you're married. These figures are national standards (see Reference 2). In Tennessee, the monthly income limit for you is $674 and $1,011 if you're married couples; resource limits are the same as the national limits. Parents' incomes counted toward their children's eligibility.
  
  

What Isn't Counted

• When determining your eligibility, there are some incomes and resources that are not counted against you. For instance, the SSA doesn't count all your wages or other income sources such as food stamps. It also doesn't count whether you're in school, and leaves scholarships and grants out of its calculations. The agency also doesn't count resources such as the value of your house and land, burial plots, life insurance policies valued at $1,500 or less or $1,500 in burial funds.
  
  

Considerations

• There's a chance your SSI Benefits will not be the same every month. The SSA pays benefits based on your income from the previous two months. Any increase or decrease in wages or other income changes your benefit amounts. The SSI may adjust your benefits to cover cost-of-living increases as well. You're required to report all wages earned to the SSA. Your physical challenges are also reviewed periodically to determine whether you're able to return to work. Reviews are scheduled every few months if your physical challenges are expected to improve. If your physical challenges are permanent, the SSA may review conditions every five to seven years.