INCOME-TESTED CASH TRANSFER PROGRAMS

SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME FOR THE AGED, BLIND, AND DISABLED (SSI)

Federal SSI Program

BASIC PROGRAM INFORMATION

LEGISLATIVE OBJECTIVE. To establish a national program providing a uniform minimum cash income to aged, blind, and disabled individuals. SSI replaced the State administered, federally reimbursed programs of old age assistance, aid to the permanently and totally disabled, aid to the blind, and aid to the aged, blind, and disabled.1 DATE ENACTED AND MAJOR CHANGES SINCE ENACTMENT.-The SSI program was authorized in the Social Security Amendment of 1972, Public Law 92-603, October 1972, and was initiated nationwide. in January 1974.

ADMINISTERING AGENCY.-The Bureau of Supplemental Security Income (BSSI), Social Security Administration, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, administers the SSI program through regional and district SSA offices in 50 States and the District of Columbia.

FINANCING. All costs of benefits and administration of the Federal SSI program are funded through open-ended appropriations from Federal general revenues.2

1 Benefits paid for 6 months of fiscal year 1974.

$1, 644, 498 $1,839, 472

140, 000 43, 461 471, 890

$4,092, 000

159, 000

36, 434

39, 674

24, 990

368, 464

302, 267

2, 700, 000

1,896, 225

1, 600, 000

3 1, 445, 622

2, 800, 000 1, 710, 000

4,300, 000

3, 341, 847

4, 510, 000

2 See provision for protecting States against increased costs, optional State supplementation of SSI benefits. 3 Includes 10,800 children.

1 The SSI program is not extended to Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands. These jurisdictions continue to administer the aid to the aged, blind, or disabled program with partial Federal funding as authorized under the original title XVI of the Social Security Act. Individuals receiving assistance under these programs in the 50 States and the District of Columbia were transferred to the SSI program in January 1974.

2 See below for provisions for State supplementation of SSI benefits.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

MAJOR ELIGIBILITY CONDITIONS.-Individuals who are age 65 or over, or blind or disabled as defined in the Social Security Act, and who have income and resources within the limits specified in the act are eligible to receive SSI benefits.

Definition of blindness.-An individual is considered to be blind if he or she has a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with corrective lens, or a limitation in the field of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends on angle of no more than 20 degrees.3

Definition of disability.-The SSI definition of disability is comparable to the definition used for entitlement to social security disability insurance benefits. Under the SSI definition a person is considered to be disabled "if he is unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months." "An added qualification is that the impairments are of such severity that the person is not only unable to do his previous work but cannot, considering his age, education and work experience, engage in any other kind of substantial gainful work which exists in the national economy, regardless of whether such work exists in the immediate area in which he lives." "Work which exists in the national economy" is defined as work which exists in significant numbers either in the region where the individual lives or in several regions of the country.

There is no specific statutory definition of disability related to children except for a statement in reference to the work-related definition that a child under 18 is considered disabled if he "suffers from any medically determinable physical or mental impairment of comparable severity."

Persons included.-Eligible individuals are included in the program. The spouse of an eligible individual is included if the spouse is also eligible as an aged, blind, or disabled person.5 A man and woman are considered to be married if they are legally married under appropriate State law, or if they hold themselves out as husband and wife in the community in which they live.

INCOME TEST

Income limit.-Effective July 1974, an individual is eligible for benefits if countable income (income other than allowable exclusions

3 An individual is also considered to be blind for SSI purposes if he met the definition of blindness under the aid to the blind plan in the State in which he lived and was receiving aid for the blind benefits in December 1973.

4 An individual also is considered to be disabled for SSI purposes if he met the definition of disability under the aid to the permanently and totally disabled plan in the State in which he lived and was receiving benefits under that plan in December 1973, and for at least 1 month prior to July 1973. Other individuals who were receiving APTD benefits in December 1973 but had received such benefits for less than 7 months were transferred to the SSI program in January 1974, but their eligibility under the SSI disability definition must be determined by December 1974.

5 Under the previous State assistance program, the needs of an ineligible spouse or other person could be included in the benefit if the person's presence in the home was essential to the beneficiary's well-being. As a transitional provision applicable only to beneficiaries transferred from State programs to SSI in January 1974, SSI includes the "essential" person when such person's needs were included in the December 1973 State assistance payment. The amount added is equivalent to the amount added for a spouse, or $73 as of July 1974.

described below) is at a rate of no more than $1,752 in a calendar year ($146 per month); or, for an eligible individual and an eligible spouse, at a rate of no more than $2,628 in a calendar year ($219 per month). Spouses are treated as individuals if they have been separated for at least 6 months.

If an individual is in a medical institution or an intermediate care facility longer than 30 days and the institution or facility receives payment for his care from the medicaid program, the countable income limit is $300 a year. In the case of an eligible couple when one of them is in such institution or facility, the countable income limit for the couple is at the annual rate of $2,052 ($1,752 for an individual plus $300 for the spouse in a health facility). If both spouses are in a qualified medical institution, the countable income limit is $600 a

year.

Treatment of earned income.-Earned income includes wages and net earnings from self-employment. Infrequently or irregularly received earned income up to $30 in a calendar quarter are excluded. Other exclusions from earned income are:

$85 per month plus one-half of the remainder of monthly earnings, except that if $20 per month has been excluded from unearned income (see next section), $65 per month plus one-half of the remainder of monthly earnings is excluded. For blind persons the amount of expenses reasonably attributable to earning income is also excluded; and for blind and disabled persons, amounts needed to carry out an approved plan for achieving self-support are also excluded."

The first $1,200 of quarterly earnings, not to exceed $1,620 in a calender year, of a child beneficiary who is a student regularly attending school.

Treatment of unearned income.-Unearned income means all income other than earnings, including:

Support and maintenance furnished in cash or in kind. The fair market value of in-kind support and maintenance is considered as income except that when an eligible individual or couple is living in another person's household, the benefit level is reduced by one-third in lieu of determining the value of support and maintenance furnished by the head of the household. (See "Determination of Amount of Benefit.")

Any payments received as an annuity, pension, retirement, disability, or unemployment benefit.

Prizes, awards, gifts, and inheritances. (The fair market value of noncash items is considered as income. An inheritance is counted as income when it is available for support.)

Proceeds of a life insurance policy in excess of amounts spent for the last illness and burial of the beneficiary or $1,500, whichever is less.

Support and alimony payments.

Rent, dividends, interest, and royalties.

Home produce used for personal consumption and infrequently or irregularly received unearned income up to $60 in a calendar quarter

For blind persons who were receiving aid to the blind benefits in December 1973, income exclusions applicable under the States AB program apply if they are greater than those applicable in the SSI program.

are excluded in determining income. Other exclusions of unearned income are:

$20 per month."

Refund of taxes paid on real property or food purchases.

Assistance based on need which is paid by a State or political
subdivision to supplement SSI benefits.

Any portion of a grant, scholarship or fellowship received for
payment of tuition and fees at an educational institution.
One-third of any support payment from an absent parent received
by a child beneficiary.

Foster care payments for a child (who is not an SSI beneficiary)
placed by a public or nonprofit private child-care agency.
Income needed by a blind or disabled beneficiary to fulfill a self-
support plans.

Treatment of income of other family members. The nonexcluded income of an ineligible spouse and parents of a child beneficiary (under age 21) with whom he is living is counted as income available to the eligible individual. Assistance based on need paid by a State or political subdivision (or by the Bureau of Indian Affairs) and any other income taken into account in determining the amount of the assistance payment is not considered as income for this purpose. Also excluded are tuition and fees provided by an educational grant, scholarship, or fellowship; foster care payments for an ineligible child; home produce grown for personal consumption; refund of taxes paid on real property or food purchases; income needed to fulfill an approved plan for selfsupport; and all earned income of an ineligible child who is a student unless the child actually makes the income available to the family. From income not excluded by the above provisions, the following exclusions are made:

Ineligible spouse. The first $65 per month of the ineligible spouse's earned income is excluded. In addition, $73 per month of earned or unearned income is excluded plus $73 for each ineligible child under age 21 of the eligible individual and/or the ineligible spouse living in the household. Any countable income of an ineligible child reduces the $73 allocation for that child. The remainder of the ineligible spouse's income is considered to be unearned income of the eligible individual.

Parent(s) living with a child beneficiary. The first $65 per month of the parent' (s) earned income is excluded. In addition, $146 per month of the parent' (s) earned or unearned income is excluded if there is one parent in the home ($219 per month if both parents, or a parent and stepparent, are in the home) plus $73 for each ineligible child under age 21 of the parent (or spouse) living in the household. Any countable income of an ineligible child reduces the $73 allocation for that child. The remainder of the parents' income is considered to be unearned income of the eligible child.

Accounting period. A quarterly accounting period (prospective) is used. All income expected to be received in a calender quarter is applied to the quarterly benefit rate to determine the quarterly entitle

7 $20 per month may be excluded from either earned or unearned income. If a beneficiary has both types of income, $20 is excluded from the unearned income and the initial-earnings disregard is $65 per month. If he has earnings only, the initial-earnings disregard is $85 a month.