Hello, I am past my FRA of 66 .2 on 10/25/21 (born 8/25/1955). My son is 30 years old and has Down Syndrome and lives with my Ex-wife. He does not work or have any income other than his SS or SSI check, I am not sure what he receives. I am going to apply for SS retirement benefits. My son has Medicare part A and B, Humana and Mass health.(Massachusetts Health} Since he may be is eligible for benefits on my earning record will that affect his Mass Health status? Should I add my son to Section 17 of the SS application?. Will he have a choice to stay were he is or be eligible to go on my record? My SS benefit is estimated at $2704 a month. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Hi. My expertise is limited to Social Security benefits, and I'm not familiar with Massachusetts Health. What I can tell you is that if your son is receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments, then he'll be required to apply for benefits from your account. If he doesn't, his SSI payments will be suspended. SSI is intended as a last resort needs based program, so recipients are required to apply for any other type of benefits for which they may qualify.

Assuming that your son qualifies for disabled adult child's (DAC) benefits on your account, those benefits would offset his SSI payments basically dollar for dollar. And, based on your estimated benefit rate, it sounds like your son's DAC amount would likely offset his SSI payment amount to zero. I don't know whether or not that might affect your son's eligibility for the Massachusetts Health program, though.

Best, Jerry