And while the settlement terms bar plaintiffs from filing new cases, the trust promises to pay out benefits for heart-valve replacements and other treatments through 2015.

FORBES: Scourge From Texas

Most special needs trusts are created by a parent, grandparent, or other family member but the disabled individual may be able to create the trust himself depending on the program for which they are seeking benefits.

FORBES: Financial Planning for Special Needs Relatives

The Social Security trust fund, together with payroll taxes, is sufficient to cover program benefits for more than the next 20 years.

FORBES: No, The United States Will Not Go Into A Debt Crisis, Not Now, Not Ever

The Social Security trust fund will technically cover any shortfall for another 20 years or so, but then benefits would have to fall by about one-quarter to match outlays with revenues.

FORBES: We Don't Need Another Short-Term Patch for our Fiscal Woes

There are sufficient Trust Fund bonds to make up the annual deficits and pay all benefits in full and on time for the next 25 years, and there are sufficient federal revenues to redeem the bonds without borrowing another dime from the public.

FORBES: Economic Lessons Learned From Number One Son

In exchange for the payroll taxes that aren't paid out in benefits to current retirees in any given year, the trust funds got nonmarketable Treasury debt.

WSJ: Cox and Archer: Why $16 Trillion Only Hints at the True U.S. Debt