209.030. Blind pensions, eligibility requirements. - Missouri Statutes

Blind pensions, eligibility requirements.

209.030. Every adult blind person, eighteen years of age orover, of good moral character who shall have been a resident ofthe state of Missouri for one year or more next preceding thetime of making application for the pension herein provided andevery adult blind person eighteen years of age or over who mayhave lost his or her sight while a bona fide resident of thisstate and who has been a continuous resident thereof since suchloss of sight, shall be entitled to receive, when enrolled underthe provisions of sections 209.010 to 209.160, an annual pensionas provided for herein, payable in equal monthly installments,provided that no such person shall be entitled to a pension whoowns property or has an interest in property to the value oftwenty thousand dollars or more, or if married and actuallyliving with husband or wife, if the value of his or her interestin property, together with that of such husband or wife, exceedssaid amount; provided, further, that in determining the totalvalue of property owned, the real estate occupied by the blindperson or spouse as the home, shall be excluded; or who has asighted spouse resident in this state who upon the investigationof the division of family services may be found to be able toprovide for the reasonable support of such applicant, or whilepublicly soliciting alms in any manner or through any artifice inany part of this state; and provided, further, that blind personswho are maintained in private or endowed institutions or who areinmates of a public institution shall not be entitled to thebenefits of sections 209.010 to 209.160, except as a patient in apublic medical institution; provided, benefits shall not be paidto a blind person under sixty-five years of age, who is a patientin an institution for mental diseases or tuberculosis. In orderto comply with federal laws and regulations and state plans inmaking payments to or on behalf of mentally ill individualssixty-five years of age, or over, who are patients in a statemental institution, the division of family services shall requireagreements or other arrangements with the institution to providea framework for cooperation and to assure that state planrequirements and federal laws and regulations relating to suchpayment will be observed. In the event the federal laws orregulations will not permit approval of the state plan forbenefit payments to or on behalf of an individual who issixty-five years of age, or over, and is a patient in a stateinstitution for mental diseases, this portion of this sectionshall be inoperative until approval of a state plan is obtained.

(RSMo 1939 § 9451, A.L. 1943 p. 786, A.L. 1945 p. 1351, A.L. 1947 V. II p. 329, A.L. 1949 p. 531, A.L. 1951 p. 762, A.L. 1953 p. 641, A.L. 1955 p. 696, A.L. 1959 H.B. 73, A.L. 1967 p. 328, A.L. 1969 H.B. 225, A.L. 1972 S.B. 483, A.L. 1981 H.B. 360)