You Don’t Need Luck to Survive Social Secutity…But It Helps.
Written by DNWML Community Member, Drew Bufalini
This is a blog from a guest author to highlight community voices and lived experiences shaped by disability policy. The views and suggestions described in this blog do not necessarily represent those of Disability Network Washtenaw Monroe Livingston.
I’m a lucky guy. Sure, I have a handful of intractable illnesses that cause chronic pain, but they’ve taught me more life lessons than a pain-free existence ever could. And sure, I urinate at least once an hour, which as it turns out, few employers can tolerate, but I’ve learned to take it in stride. My remaining friends and family know I’m doing the best I can. I have a solid roof over my head, transportation, a fridge full of food, doctors I trust, and – most importantly – the love of a good wife (second time’s the charm). But things weren’t always so shiny and happy for me. This is my twenty-second year living in pain. Eventually, getting on Social Security Disability and Medicare proved an immense relief, the first of many small wins that tallied up to my relief and happiness, culminating in me feeling like a lucky guy.
Social Security Disability was a gamechanger. No more sweating out where my next meal was going to come from. No more fretting about keeping a roof over my head or clothes on my back. The odds that my car would get repossessed instantly diminished. No more bankrupting medical bills from hospitals and doctors. However, I was soon disabused of my notion of Social Security as the panacea to all the problems that stem from the size of my disability check.
Rather than covering all my bills and putting a roof over my head, the small check covered a little more than half of my bills. WTF, I howled at the universe, shaking my frustrated fist at the sky. When I stopped frothing, I did the math:
In 2026, the average monthly SSD payment is approximately $1,630, while the maximum possible monthly benefit is $2,937.[i]
If it was 1990, that would sound like a lot of money.
However, as of mid-2026, an adult requires between $2,400 and $3,290 to live in Washtenaw County[ii], depending on their rent or mortgage. That seems almost reasonable until you learn that the average Social Security Disability check in Michigan tops out at $2,937.[iii] Assuming the recipient can survive in the cheapest ramshackle shack that’s probably haunted – they’ll have an extra $537 in foldin’ money! That’s good. Because our example adult might have other expenses…like utilities, healthcare, food, gas, and transportation.
Good thing the government gives everyone on disability free healthcare! Oh wait. They don’t. Medicare Part A, which pays for a percentage of your hospital stay, is free. (Big ups to our congress folk! Seriously.) Again, things are not quite as they seem. Medicare Part B, the plan that pays for your doctor’s appointments, labs, tests, etcetera, currently costs $202.90 per month and doesn’t include prescription coverage. That amount will be deducted from your disability check. (Note: the IRS will tax your disability check, too. Unless you want to owe Uncle Sam a few grand at the end of the year – tell your Social Security representative to deduct taxes BEFORE sending your check.) Is it irony or a catch twenty-two that the government taxes income to set aside funds for your future (Social Security), then taxes it again when they give you a disability check?
Most of us have severe, ongoing health concerns that require regular and frequent appointments with medical specialists, who may recommend tests or procedures that aren’t covered by Medicare. Others have continuing care that costs thousands per day; most of them out of pocket. (The risk of bankruptcy due to medical debt rises exponentially when you’re disabled.) This is to say nothing of everyday expenses – like the occasional trip to the movies – and those unexpected, emergency expenses like your AC kicking the bucket during the hottest summer in a century. Forget about superfluous “wants” like a smart phone or computer or even Wi-Fi. Say goodbye to cable and streaming services. You’ll need that money for co-pays. Suddenly, Starbucks seems like a luxury.
But things aren’t as bleak as they seem.
With a little luck, some help from the Ticket to Work program, and learning some frugal spending habits, it’s possible to live off Social Security. Let’s talk about the ways I have learned to save that don’t completely suck.
Start with your ride: do you have more car than you need? Are you single and driving a Chevy Tahoe with third-row seating? You might consider downsizing to a pre-owned vehicle with better gas mileage. If public transportation is an option in your area, seriously consider using it to save even more money. Nothing affords great people-watching stories like public transportation. For me, the best way to keep my transportation costs down was to downsize into a more affordable car that I eventually paid off. I’m still driving it five years later and bend over backward to keep it roadworthy. Not having a car payment is nice. Carpooling goes without saying. At this time in our history, I do not advise hitchhiking.
Low-income housing is becoming a national problem that state and city governments can’t seem to solve on their own. The average rent in Washtenaw County is $1,496 per month for a single bedroom apartment That represents the larger percentage of your disability check. Is there anywhere you can live for free? Will your family abide you for a few years? If not, consider a roommate. They can be maddening, but they can also help you save thousands of dollars per year. Besides rent, a roommate (or two!) should also pay for half of your utilities and TV/streaming services. Now you can enjoy an episode of Real Housewives rather than stare into the fuzzy picture of whatever is playing on public access. When I went on disability, I got divorced and moved in with my parents. Much later, when I met Shajal, I moved into her house. I handle some of our monthly expenses from my disability check, but my wife pays for the great remainder of our needs. Yet another reason she makes me feel lucky.
One more major cash gobbler when you’re on disability are prescriptions. If you have prescription insurance through Medicare, which I highly recommend, you’ll have a helping hand. If you’re like me and don’t have prescription coverage, find generic medications to replace name brands. Sometimes pharmaceutical companies offer payment assistance if their medications are too expensive for you. Finally, find a pharmacy that charges the least amount of money for each medication. This will require some time and basic math, but you may discover that you’ll pay much less for scripts at the Kroger pharmacy than you do at your local CVS, for example.
It’s important to note that Social Security doesn’t end with a check. They want you to be independent, too. Toward that end, they offer a program that allows you to earn money without jeopardizing your disability status. The Ticket to Work program is meant to help recipients of Social Security Disability earn up to an additional $700 per month after taxes – without their disability going into review. The program doesn’t cost you a dime and connects you to the services and support you’ll need to find a job that can accommodate your needs. To borrow from the Social Security website, “Ticket to Work offers qualified people with disabilities access to meaningful employment with the assistance of authorized employment service providers.” From personal experience, I can attest to another benefit: working part time helps rebuild your endurance, eventually allowing you to spend longer periods of time working or socializing. Ultimately, the hope is that you’ll perform so well in your new job that it might lead to something full time. But don’t despair! Ticket to Work isn’t meant to push people off disability. The program is intended to give Social Security recipients a sense of independence and control of their lives.
Here’s how it works: Sign up here. Eventually, you’ll be contacted by an employment service that is licensed to work with social security recipients. I was paired with Kusky Services and a consultant named Dominic, who organized the search process once we had discussed the type of job my disability would allow me to perform. Over the coming months, we talked about setting goals for employment, finding the right employment network, developing a cogent resume, networking, and interviewing skills. We even did a practice interview! Dominic worked diligently to find me a job in my field (advertising) that I could do from the comfort of my home bathroom. At the same time, I began connecting with my old industry contacts, more or less begging for an opportunity to come back and prove myself to the world. Again.
When we both came up empty on the advertising front, Dominic suggested that it was time to change strategies – that perhaps I should look at smaller agencies and marketing companies. I took his advice and scored an article assignment from one of them. While I developed a mailing list of everyone I knew in the industry who worked at a small agency, Dominic was busy contacting all sixty marketing-related companies in my area – we both came up skint. The trouble was that, in my former career, a physical presence was required to collaborate and present creative work. My presence, or lack thereof, would simply slow down the creative process.
Frustration set in. And not for the first time. Dominic explained to me that the job I was seeking was a unicorn: full-time, remote, salaried positions with benefits were not for the disabled. I wish I could say that this was ableist tripe. But I am invisible to human resource managers and creative directors. My imagination is as fertile as ever. I’m kicking out new short stories like nobody’s business. As an advertising writer and user experience designer, I conceptualized television campaigns for some of the country’s biggest brands and created apps from scratch. I am still capable of great writing and design! Yet even the companies that were interested in me lamented that I was unreliable due to my health problems. Despite the invisible disabilities, my creativity was more than up to snuff. How was I supposed to dig myself out of this hole of depression, guilt, and debt, if no one would give me a chance? I’ll write another blog when I have an answer to that question.
You’re reading my very personal answer to how I survive on Social Security. I volunteered to write this blog as a way of both giving something to the community and maintaining my professional skills. Sure, I wrote this for free – but that doesn’t make it less valuable, especially if it helps someone. I suppose that’s another reason I count myself lucky. Who knows, maybe someone will read this and get inspired?
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DREW BUFALINI is a disabled freelance writer who has been living off the disability check and his pen for roughly two hundred years – mostly as an advertising copywriter (the poetry of capitalism). He has published short fiction in Medium, Freedom Fiction Journal, Bristol Noir, Literary Heist, Gargoyle Magazine, Literary Yard, Scars, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, and Close to the Bone among others. Drew lives with his wife and crazy puppies outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
[i] https://wise.com/us/cost-of-living/united-states/ann-arbor-mi
[ii] https://wise.com/us/cost-of-living/united-states/ann-arbor-mi