Montana's Big Sky country has a lot to offer to active people of all ages, but rugged country isn't the only obstacle there for the disabled retiree. Here are some things disabled seniors should know about retirement in Montana.
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- Active is Everything
- Montana prides itself on an active, outdoor lifestyle and that's what it promotes in luring people to visit, move or retire there. The individual listings for retirement communities on the state's TopRetirements.com page all emphasize what they're like for active adults and don't say much about opportunities for disabled retirees. The listing for Billings at least notes that the "special thing" about the community is that the Billings Clinic hospital system was ranked No. 1 by Consumer Reports. The hospital system is also one of Montana's major employers.
- Expensive
- Disabled seniors can face extra expenses just to live, which means any extra expense in ordinary, day-to-day living is going to eat into what a disabled retiree needs just to cope with his or her own circumstances. It doesn't help that no place in Montana appears on either the AARP or Caring.com's lists of inexpensive places to live or retire. However, the university town of Bozeman made the U.S. News & World Report's list of affordable mountain towns in which to live.
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- Hurdles to Jump -
Apply for disability in Montana and you face a 60 to 70 percent chance of your initial claim being denied, according to the Social Security Disability SSI Resource Center. Applications and appeals are based not only on medical disability, but specifically how it relates to the job you used to do. About 82 percent of requests for reconsideration are denied, the center says.
- State Ranking
- Montana ranked 36th best in the nation in United Cerebral Palsy's 2014 nationwide rating of state services to the disabled. Notable items on the state's scorecard include one large facility serving 55 people, and a waiting list that would require the state's disability programs to grow by 31 percent to meet the needs of the state's disabled people. The proportion of money spent on home and community based services declined in 2012.
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