Benefit Adequacy Among Elderly Social Security Retired-Worker Beneficiaries and the SSI Federal Benefit Rate

by Kalman Rupp, Alexander Strand, Paul Davies, and Jim Sears
Social Security Bulletin, Vol. 67 No. 3, 2007
Table equivalent for Chart 2. Percent of elderly retired-worker beneficiaries with Social Security benefits below the unit FBR in each eligibility and participation status category with family income at or below 75 percent and 100 percent of the poverty threshold
SSI Status At or below
75 percent		 At or below
100 percent
Eligible participant 15.2 72.2
Eligible nonparticipant 48.9 68.0
Not eligible because of both income and assets 0.5 5.6
Not eligible because of income only 0.0 12.8
Not eligible because of assets only 42.1 70.1
SOURCE: Authors' calculations based on November 1996 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation.
NOTE: FBR = federal benefit rate; SSI = Supplemental Security Income.
Table equivalent for Chart 3. Percent of elderly retired-worker beneficiaries with Social Security benefits below the unit FBR in each SSI eligibility and participation status category with family income above 200 percent of the poverty threshold
SSI Status Percent
Eligible participant 8.0
Eligible nonparticipant 16.8
Not eligible because of both income and assets 76.0
Not eligible because of income only 38.8
Not eligible because of assets only 10.8
SOURCE: Authors' calculations based on November 1996 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation.
NOTE: FBR = federal benefit rate; SSI = Supplemental Security Income.
Table equivalent for Chart 4. Distributional effects of four alternative screening scenarios (in percent)
Screening scenario Percent of those with family
income above 100 percent
of poverty line screened in		 Percent of those with family
income below 75 percent
of poverty line screened out
Individual FBR screen 19.6 9.6
Unit FBR screen 11.3 7.9
Unit FBR plus income screen 1.8 9.7
Unit FBR plus income and asset screens 1.4 32.8
SOURCE: Authors' calculations based on November 1996 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation.
NOTE: FBR = federal benefit rate.
Table equivalent for Chart 5. Nonpoor as a percent of all those screened in under four different screening scenarios
Screening scenario Percent
Individual FBR screen 80.1
Unit FBR screen 69.4
Unit FBR plus income screen 29.4
Unit FBR plus income and asset screens 29.3
SOURCE: Authors' calculations based on November 1996 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation.
NOTE: FBR = federal benefit rate.