2020 Annual Report of the SSI Program

I. INTRODUCTION

Congress established the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program in 1972 by amending the Social Security Act (Act) to include Title XVI, with payments beginning in 1974. The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers the program. SSI replaced the former Federal‑State programs of Old-Age Assistance, Aid to the Blind, and Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled in the 50 States and the District of Columbia. Residents of the Northern Mariana Islands became eligible for SSI in January 1978.

In 2019, the SSI program provides a monthly Federal cash payment of $771 ($1,157 for a couple if both members are eligible) for an eligible person living in his or her own household and having no other countable income. Since 1975, these Federal SSI benefit rates have increased with the same cost-of-living adjustment applied to benefits under the Old‑Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program. In addition to setting a Federal benefit standard, the legislation establishing SSI also permitted individual States to supplement the Federal payment with an additional monthly amount. As described in section III.G, these State supplementation payments can be either voluntary at the option of the individual States or, in certain cases, mandatory under requirements in effect when the SSI program began.

Unlike Social Security benefits, which are paid from the Social Security Trust Funds, funding for Federal SSI program benefits and administrative costs for the SSI program comes from the General Fund of the U.S. Treasury. Federally-administered State supplementary payments are also funded by the General Fund but are reimbursed by the States.

Under section 231 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, SSA must submit a report on the SSI program to the President and Congress no later than May 30 of each year. This is the 24th annual report on the SSI program. The legislative mandate requires that the report include:

•	A comprehensive description of the SSI program;

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Historical and current data relating to: (1) claims intake and dispositions at all levels of decision making; (2) demographic information about recipients, including program cost and prior enrollment in other public benefit programs; (3) redeterminations, continuing disability reviews, and utilization of work incentives; (4) administrative costs; and (5) State supplementation program operations;

•	25‑year projections of future recipients and program costs;

•	A historical summary of statutory changes to Title XVI of the Act; and

•	Summaries of any relevant research on the SSI program by SSA or others.

In addition, the legislation specified that the report may include the Social Security Advisory Board’s views of the SSI program.

Much of the required information is the subject of extensive ongoing research. In responding to each of the specific requests for information, SSA has made every effort to provide the best information available at this time. SSA will continue to make improvements upon such information in order to help the President and Congress effectively manage this important part of our social safety net.