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So, even if a disabled person doesn’t need the money, many intentionally stay under federal poverty limit thresholds because their job doesn’t have healthcare, or they aren’t able to function without a home health aide.

In order to have a 90 percent chance of not outliving their savings, that couple will need roughly $430,000—and that’s just medical expenses; it doesn’t cover things like rent, or mortgage payments, or long-term care along the lines of a home health aide or a nursing home.

In Altadena, home health aide Kimberly Barrera, 26, was on the phone with 911, begging for help evacuating a cancer patient from Canyada Avenue.

Sheri Wilkins, 60, who works as a home health aide in College Station, Texas, said she’s used the apps since 2020, and that she feels “dependent on the money.”

Hamar, who works as a home health aide, and her children were uninsured in March.