Gayle, I was just presumptuous to glance at your profile. What about taking a part time or temporary job a few hours a week in private sector so you would be paying into the California Disability Insurance program? Admittedly, it has been three years since I lived in that state, but I suspect there still are minimal required deductions for SDI, as there were on my paychecks when I lived there. You know the old joke about a change of occupation being a vacation; selling doughnuts in a shop (or whatever) four-six hours a week might be worth it, and not just for the minimum wage and doughnut.