2013 Annual Report of the SSI Program

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-193) directs the Social Security Administration (SSA) to report annually to the President and to the Congress on the status of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. Projections of program recipients and costs through at least 25 years are a required element of these reports. This report is the 17th of such reports.

Highlights of the SSI Program

•	The SSI program is a nationwide Federal assistance program administered by SSA that guarantees a minimum level of income for needy aged, blind, or disabled individuals. It acts as a safety net for individuals who have limited resources and little or no Social Security or other income.

•	In January 2013, 8.1 million individuals received monthly Federal SSI payments averaging $507, up from 7.9 million recipients with an average payment of $497 in January 2012. [D]

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Federal expenditures for cash payments under the SSI program during calendar year 2012 increased 5.4 percent to $51.7 billion, while the funds made available to administer the SSI program in fiscal year 2012 decreased 1.2 percent to $3.9 billion. In 2011, the corresponding program and administrative expenditures were $49.0 billion and $4.0 billion, respectively.

Major Findings of the Report

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By 2037, the end of the 25-year projection period, we estimate that the Federal SSI recipient population will reach 9.4 million. The number of SSI program recipients is projected to grow slightly faster than the U.S. population over the next few years reflecting the still-elevated unemployment rates during the remainder of the recovery from the recent economic downturn. Over the remainder of the 25-year projection period, the growth in the SSI recipient population is projected to be somewhat slower than the growth in the overall U.S. population.

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As a percentage of the total U.S. population, the number of Federal SSI recipients increased slightly from 2.47 percent in 2011 to 2.51 percent in 2012. We project this percentage to rise very slightly to 2.53 percent over the next few years before beginning a gradual decline over the remainder of the 25-year projection period reaching 2.42 percent of the population in 2037.

•	We estimate that Federal expenditures for SSI payments in calendar year 2013 will increase by $1.9 billion to $53.6 billion, an increase of 3.7 percent from 2012 levels.

•	In dollars adjusted by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to 2013 levels, we project that Federal expenditures for SSI payments will increase to $61.5 billion in 2037, a real increase of 0.6 percent per year.

•	Federal SSI expenditures expressed as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) were 0.33 in 2012. We project that expenditures as a percentage of GDP will remain at 0.33 percent of GDP in 2013, and decline thereafter to 0.23 percent of GDP by 2037.