https://www.thenation.com/article/society/ssi-rules-families-poverty/
The Supplemental Security Income program (SSI) was created in 1972 under the Nixon administration to provide financial support to low-income seniors and disabled people. An effort to federalize state-level adult support programs across the country, SSI is a means-tested program—there are financial requirements to be eligible. In the case of SSI, as of its last adjustment in 1989, enrollees cannot have savings of more than $2,000 as an individual or $3,000 as a family. Furthermore, SSI beneficiaries are prohibited from having retirement accounts, life insurance policies, certain types of personal property, funeral/burial policies, and access to other types of income.
[emphasis mine]
OMG I'm gonna test some means! 
someone i know's mom was slinging her excess pain medication for cash and then had to cut the person off that she was selling it to (because her doctor retired and her medication was massively cut down). that person then reported her as revenge. she did six months in jail and then was cut off from benefits for a long time. even after becoming totally disabled (like unable to walk).
her disability finally killed her 2 years ago.
What happened to that wicked person?
was a "friend" before she was able to beg for a a percentage of her monthly script in exchange for needed cash. obviously was cut off from all contact by the family
supposedly she herself got locked up later for stealing electronics from people she was staying with. not a good person: don't steal from or narc on regular people
I’ll be honest every person who so much as touched your friend’s moms paperwork in this process deserves to be fucking shot
i agree. she was finally able to get full disability later on but the government forced her to drop the $150k of backpay she was owed in exchange for a couple hundred $ a month
they only survived thanks to a medical settlement payout from different lawsuits.
here's the fun part: her disability was caused by exposure to asbestos from the U.S. military