The Basics
At 18, your child becomes an adult. Around the same time, there might be other life changes, such as high school graduation, a first job, or moving out of the family home.
As these happen, your child’s benefits might change:
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI) has different rules for children and adults.
- Your child can manage his or her own Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) benefits and medical care.
- Some benefits are only for children, so if your child gets them now, he or she will stop getting them as an adult.
- Other benefits are only for adults, so your child may start getting them.
This doesn’t mean your child will be worse off: after turning 18, your child may qualify for the same benefits as before and possibly more.
Benefits programs are designed to make sure your child will be better off when working. Your child can get a job and still get the benefits he or she needs as an adult.
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SSI Rules That Change
If your child gets Supplemental Security Income (SSI) before turning 18, your child’s benefits might go up or down once he or she becomes an adult.
If your child doesn’t get SSI before age 18, he or she might start to qualify as an adult.
Different Definitions of Disability for Children and Adults
To get SSI, your child’s disability must meet the Social Security Administration’s standards:
- For a child under 18, physical or mental impairments must cause severe limitations in daily life.
- For an adult, physical or mental impairments must limit the ability to work.
While these standards are somewhat different, neither one stops a person from working. Working will make your child’s life better over the long term as an adult, without causing SSI benefits to end automatically.
Exactly how your child’s disability is evaluated as an adult depends on whether your child gets SSI before turning 18.
If Your Child Gets SSI Before Age 18
Children who get SSI benefits before turning 18 have to go through an Age-18 Redetermination before turning 19 to make sure their disabilities meet the adult standards:
- The Age-18 Redetermination is simpler than a standard adult disability determination, because your child cannot be disqualified from having a disability just because he or she earns too much money.
- An SSI rule called Section 301 means that if your child is in a program such as an Individualized Education Program (IEP), Vocational Rehabilitation (VR), or Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS), he or she may keep getting SSI for a while even if your child’s impairment no longer qualifies as a disability.
If Your Child Doesn’t Get SSI Before 18
If your child didn’t get SSI before turning 18, Social Security will review your child’s medical condition to make sure it matches their definition of disability. As part of this disability determination, they will check to make sure your child earns $1,620 per month or less to be determined to have a disability. This amount is called the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) level. After your child starts getting SSI benefits, he or she can make more than the SGA level and keep getting benefits, as long as his or her countable income isn’t over the program’s income limit.
More SSI Changes at 18
Children under 18 who get SSI have representative payees, which means that the child’s benefits are usually sent to the parent. When turning 18, your child can ask to have all benefits sent directly to him or her.
At age 18, other SSI rules can affect whether your child qualifies for benefits and how much your child gets:
- Parent-to-child deeming ends. This means SSI stops counting parental income and resources when figuring out your child’s benefits, so benefits could begin or the benefits amount could go up.
- If somebody else pays for your child’s shelter, including parents, your child’s SSI benefits could go down by up to a third.
Many things affect whether your child gets benefits and how much. However, SSI is designed to make sure your child is better off when working, both during childhood and adulthood.
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AHCCCS Rules That Change
At 18, your child can manage his or her AHCCCS benefits and make medical decisions privately. You won’t have access to your child’s medical records unless he or she authorizes it. That's why it's important to teach your child how to make health decisions and manage benefits now, so that your child will know how to do them later.
Income-Based AHCCCS and KidsCare
Income-based AHCCCS and KidsCare cover children 18 or younger if the total combined income of everybody who lives in the same household is 230% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG) or less ($73,945 per year or less for a family of four).
When your child turns 19, AHCCCS KidsCare eligibility ends. For adults, the income limit for income-based AHCCCS is 138% of FPG ($44,367 per year for a family of four). If your child doesn’t qualify for income-based AHCCCS as an adult, there are other options:
- If you or your child’s other parent can get employer-sponsored coverage, your child can be on that plan until turning 26.
- If employer-sponsored coverage is not available, your child may get help paying for individual coverage on HealthCare.gov if household income is 138% of FPG or higher.
Note: If your child moves out of your house and you don’t claim your child as a dependent on your taxes, your child might qualify as a single person living alone.
| Your family size: | |
Annual income limits for your family: | |
| Income-based AHCCCS (138% FPG) | |
| AHCCCS KidsCare (230% FPG) | |
| Subsidized private plans, reduced fees (250% FPG) | |
| Subsidized private plans (no income limit) | -- |
If your family's income is at or below the limit for a program, you may qualify if you meet other program rules.
Notes:
| |
Rules that Don't Change At 18 or 19
Most other eligibility rules for AHCCCS and private health insurance don't change when your child turns 18 or 19:
- Disability-Based AHCCCS covers children and adults who get Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits and some low-income people with disabilities who don't get SSI. Note: It may be easier for your child to qualify for SSI and disability-based AHCCCS as an adult, because parental income is no longer counted and does not affect eligibility.
- AHCCCS Freedom to Work covers people 16-64 years old who have disabilities, don't get SSI, and make as much as $79,270 per year.
- Employer-sponsored coverage through your job or your child’s other parent's job has to allow your children to be on the plan until their 26th birthday.
- Individual coverage is an option for children and adults if employer-sponsored coverage is not available. Households may get help paying for it on HealthCare.gov if household income is over 138% of FPG.
As your child gets older, health coverage rules don't change much and there should always be an option that will cover your child.
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Benefits That End and Benefits That Start
Some programs help children, while others help adults. When your child becomes an adult, he or she will no longer qualify for some benefits and may qualify for others instead.
Your Child Will Not Qualify You for TANF Cash Assistance
If your family gets benefits from TANF Cash Assistance, when your child turns 18 (or 19 if still in school), he or she will no longer count as a child for TANF Cash Assistance. This means your family’s TANF Cash Assistance benefits may go down or stop.
Social Security Child’s Benefits Are Only for Children
If your child gets Social Security Child’s Benefits based on your or your spouse’s Social Security work record, these benefits will end when your child turns 18, unless he or she is still in high school or doing another form of secondary education. In that case, they end at 19. If your child stops getting Child’s Benefits, he or she may be able to start getting Childhood Disability Benefits (CDB) benefits instead.
Childhood Disability Benefits (CDB) Might Start
Social Security Childhood Disability Benefits (CDB) benefits help adults with disabilities who are 18 or older with money each month. If your child gets CDB benefits for two years, he or she will also qualify for Medicare health coverage.
Your child may qualify for CDB if he or she:
- Has a disability that began before turning 22 and meets Social Security’s definition of disability for adults
- Is not married, unless the spouse also gets CDB or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, and
- Has a parent who gets Social Security retirement benefits or SSDI. If your child’s other parent is deceased, your child could also qualify.
Your child can apply for CDB at the local Social Security office.
If your child moves out of the family home, benefits eligibility could change. Many programs, including income-based AHCCCS and Nutrition Assistance (formerly Food Stamps), are based on household income. Other programs, like SSI, give higher or lower benefits depending on a person’s living situation. If your child is moving into a new living situation, talk to a Work Incentive Consultant and ask about how this change might affect his or her benefits eligibility.
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Next Steps
Learn More on DB101
Use DB101’s School and Work Estimator to get a sense of how work could impact your child’s benefits.
To learn more about these and other ways benefits support work, read DB101’s articles about:
- Parent Focus: Four Ways Benefits Support Work, covering the key ways that benefits programs support beneficiaries who start earning money.
- Benefits for Young People, including details about many different benefits and how rules change as your child gets older.
- Supplemental Security Income, which covers SSI’s rules in detail.
- Income-based AHCCCS, which covers people with and without disabilities.
- Disability-based AHCCCS, another way people with disabilities may qualify for AHCCCS coverage.
- Building Your Assets and Wealth, an introduction to asset-building strategies.
- Plans to Achieve Self-Support, an in-depth look at the ways a PASS can help.
- Individual Development Accounts, a detailed look at IDAs and how to set them up.
Benefits and Work Incentives Consulting Services
If you're currently on SSI, SSDI, or CDB benefits, and you're looking for a job, you should qualify for free benefits consulting services. Trained Work Incentive Counsultants at Benefits 2 Work Arizona can help you understand Social Security work incentives, disability benefit programs, and how they are impacted by work. Their goal is to help you avoid complications while developing a sustainable financial plan for your future.
You can contact Benefits 2 Work Arizona at 1-866-304-WORK (9675) toll-free to find a Work Incentive Consultant serving your community.
AZ LINKS – Aging and Disability Resource Center
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The AZ Links – Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) helps seniors, people with disabilities, and their family members and caregivers find resources and services that meet their independent living, disability, housing, financial, legal, and health needs. |
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