To those who believe the federal Supplemental Security Income program for severely disabled children is a lifesaver and not a boondoggle, Hulston Poe is a great example.
After four-year-old Hulston Poe was diagnosed with severe ADHD last October, case workers said there wasn't much they could do for him. But when doctors recommended his mother enroll him in the SSI program this year, everything changed. The four-year-old was diagnosed with severe ADHD last October, after more than a year of violent temper tantrums, and kicked out of preschool. Case workers said there wasn’t much they could do for him. "We were at a standstill," said his mother, Suzanne Poe, who was scraping by as a single parent of two in Des Moines, Iowa.
But when doctors recommended she enroll her son in the SSI program this year, everything changed. A monthly check of $674 helps pay for Hulston’s day care, a private tutor and medicines. Perhaps most importantly, the program made Hulston newly eligible for Medicaid, the joint state-federal health insurance program for the poor. He gained access to the doctors he needed.
Read more of Jenny Gold's Kaiser Hospital News article HERE.
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