Appealing CalFresh denial with SSDI income - anyone win their hearing?

I appealed my denial last year and won! The key thing you need to know is that SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) is actually considered UNEARNED income, so you don't get the 20% earned income deduction - that's only for wages from work. However, you're absolutely right about the medical expense deduction! If you have more than $35 in monthly out-of-pocket medical expenses, you can deduct anything above that amount. Do you pay for any medications, doctor visits, medical equipment, or transportation to medical appointments? Even Medicare premiums count. List ALL of these expenses in your appeal paperwork with documentation. That might bring you under the limit.

my cousin got denied to but then he just reaplied insted of doing the appeal thing and got aproved the 2nd time. maybe try that first? appeals take 4ever.

I successfully appealed a CalFresh denial related to disability income calculation. Here's what worked for me: 1. Gather ALL medical expense receipts - they need proof of everything 2. Print out the CalFresh policy about medical expense deductions (I found it on the CDSS website) 3. At the hearing, speak clearly about each expense and how it relates to your disability 4. If you can get a letter from your doctor explaining your medical needs, that helps My hearing took about 45 minutes and I received a decision 3 weeks later. The ALJ (Administrative Law Judge) was actually very fair and understanding, unlike the county worker who denied me initially. With all your expenses, you should definitely qualify. Don't give up!

THEY ALWAYS DO THIS!! The county workers don't understand their own rules half the time! I swear they're trained to deny people on the first try hoping we'll just give up. When I was on SSDI I had the EXACT same issue and had to fight for 6 months to get my benefits!!! So infuriating!!!

kinda off topic but does anyone know if the income limits changed for 2025? i heard they went up but can't find the new chart anywhere

I had this same problem last year and tried calling the county office for WEEKS with no luck - always on hold forever or got disconnected. Finally I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to a real person at the CalFresh office in about 15 minutes. They have this system that holds your place in line and calls you back when they reach a worker. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/eZ19FHRETv8?si=_CXnXqNXbLl26WB8. It saved me so much frustration! The worker I finally talked to was able to properly calculate my medical deductions and I got approved without having to go through the whole appeal process.

wait, i'm confused... isnt calfresh the same as calworks? or are they different things?

UPDATE: I finally got through to a supervisor at my county office. Turns out the worker had entered my medical expenses in the wrong field in their system, so they weren't being counted in the calculation! The supervisor fixed it and recalculated my benefits on the spot. I now qualify for $281/month in CalFresh! She said I can withdraw my appeal since it's resolved. So relieved I don't have to go through with the hearing. Thanks everyone for your help and advice!

Congratulations on getting it resolved! Your story is so helpful for others in similar situations. It's really telling that it was just a data entry error in their system - makes you wonder how many people get wrongly denied because of these kinds of mistakes. I'm dealing with a similar issue right now with my recertification and this gives me hope that persistence pays off. Did you have to provide any additional documentation to the supervisor, or were they able to see your medical expenses in the system once they looked in the right place?