Would Social Security benefits be taken away from a husband that has to go to a nursing home or assisted living? Something I just recently heard, and was concerned, to say the least. Thank you for any info.

Hi. No. Social Security benefits are earned benefits based on a person's past work and earnings. A person's living arrangements has no effect on their Social Security benefit rate or their ability to collect benefits. However, if your husband is mentally incapable of managing his benefits, then Social Security would likely need to appoint a representative payee to handle his benefits for him. Representative payees must use a person's Social Security benefits to pay for the person's current needs, or save them for future needs. So, is your husband has a payee and if he is moved to a nursing home, the payee may need to use your husband's benefits to pay for the nursing home charges.

The Social Security Administration does administer a needs based program called Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and those benefits can be affected by a person's living arrangements. So, if SSI is what your husband receives, then residing in a nursing home could reduce or eliminate his SSI payments.

Best, Jerry