Aged: Any person aged 65 or older (unchanged from requirements under State Old-Age Assistance (OAA) program).
Blind: Any person with central visual acuity of 20/200 or less vision in the better eye with the use of a correcting lens, or with a visual field limitation of 20 degrees or less in the better eye. An individual transferred from a State Aid to the Blind (AB) program to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is eligible if the person received such State aid in December 1973 and continues to meet the October 1972 State definition of blindness.
Disabled: Any person unable to engage in any
substantial gainful activity (SGA) by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment expected to result in death or that has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months. For a child under age 18, eligibility is based on disability of severity comparable with that of an adult. An individual transferred from a State Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled (APTD) program to SSI is also eligible if the person received such State aid in December 1973 and continues to meet the October 1972 State definition of disability.
A disabled recipient who loses Federal SSI eligibility because of earnings at the SGA level may continue to receive a special benefit under section 1619 and retain eligibility for
Medicaid under Title XIX of the Social Security Act. This special benefit status may continue as long as the recipient has the disabling impairment and meets all nondisability SSI eligibility criteria. States have the option of supplementing this special benefit.
For individuals under age 18, the “comparable severity” standard is eliminated and replaced with a requirement that a child be considered disabled if the person has a medically determinable impairment that results in “marked and severe functional limitations,” and meets the existing statutory duration requirement. The law also eliminates references to “maladaptive behaviors” from the personal/behavioral domain of the mental disorders in the Listing of Impairments for children, and discontinues the use of individualized functional assessments for children.
SSI eligibility is prohibited for an individual in any month during which such an individual is a fugitive felon, fleeing prosecution for a felony, or violating State or Federal conditions of probation or parole.
1 In addition, SSI eligibility is prohibited for 10 years for those convicted of fraudulently claiming residence to obtain benefits simultaneously in two or more States.
2The individual must reside within one of the 50 States or the District of Columbia and be a citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence or permanently residing in the United States under color of law. Persons living outside the United States for an entire calendar month lose their eligibility for such a month.
The income and resources of the immigration sponsors of aliens applying for SSI are considered in determining eligibility for and the amount of payment. After allowances for the needs of the sponsor and the sponsor’s family, the remainder is deemed available for the support of the alien applicant for a 3-year period after admission to the United States for permanent residence. This provision does not apply to those who become blind or disabled after admission, to
refugees, or to persons granted political asylum. (See section
2.g. of this appendix for subsequent changes to sponsor-to-alien deeming provisions.)
SSI eligibility is continued for a disabled or blind child who was receiving SSI benefits while living in the United States and is now living with a
parent who is a member of the U.S. Armed Forces assigned to permanent duty ashore outside the United States but not where the parent is stationed in Puerto Rico or the territories and possessions of the United States.
Prohibits SSI eligibility for anyone who is not a U.S. citizen or national unless they are in a “qualified alien” category and meet one of certain exceptions such as lawful permanent residents who earn or can be credited with 40
qualifying quarters of earnings, certain refugee type categories eligible for up to 5 years of time-limited eligibility, or active duty U.S. military or veterans and their spouses and children. Extends eligibility for aliens receiving SSI as of August 22, 1996 (the enactment date of the law) for 1 year after the enactment date for those aliens found ineligible under the new standards.
Amends Public Law 104-193 to add to the list of “qualified aliens” certain noncitizens (and their children) who have been battered or subjected to extreme cruelty by a spouse or parent or a member of the spouse’s or parent’s family living in the same
household.
Allows certain citizens of Ukraine, nationals of Ukraine, or individuals with no nationality who last habitually resided in Ukraine to be eligible for SSI benefits if they were:
To be eligible for SSI benefits, these parolees would also need to meet the other requirements of the SSI program, such as being at least age 65 or disabled or blind, and having countable income and resources below certain limits. A parolee’s eligibility to receive SSI benefits ends if parole status is terminated by the Department of Homeland Security. This law also exempts these parolees from sponsor-to-alien deeming.
SSI applicants and recipients are not required as a condition of eligibility to elect to receive Veterans Administration
3 pensions under the Veterans and Survivors’ Pension Improvement Act of 1978 if the State of residence lacks a medically needy program under Title XIX.
SSI payments are required to be made through a representative payee — another person or public or private agency designated by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to manage the recipient’s benefits on their behalf.
An individual who is an inmate of a public institution is ineligible for SSI payments unless the institution is a facility approved for Medicaid payments and is receiving such payments on behalf of the person. Under
regulations, the Medicaid payment must represent more than 50 percent of the cost of services provided by the facility to the individual.
An inmate of a publicly operated community residence serving no more than 16 persons may, if otherwise eligible, receive SSI.
Funding no longer provided under Title XVI for medical, social, developmental, and rehabilitative services to disabled or blind children.
During each of fiscal years 1996, 1997, and 1998, requires SSA to conduct continuing disability reviews (CDRs) on a minimum of 100,000 SSI recipients. In addition, during the same period, requires SSA to redetermine the SSI eligibility of at least one-third of all child SSI recipients who reach age 18 after April 1995 during the 1-year period following attainment of age 18. Redeterminations for persons turning age 18 could count toward the 100,000 CDR requirement.
Deeming occurs when the income and resources of certain family members living in the same household with the SSI recipient are considered in determining the amount of the SSI payment. These family members are the
ineligible spouse of an adult recipient and the ineligible parents of a child recipient under age 21. After deduction of personal allocations for the spouse (or parents) and for ineligible children in the home and after application of income exclusions, any remaining income of the spouse (or parents) is added to the income of the eligible person.
Changes the effective date of an SSI application to the first day of the month following the date on which the application was filed or on which the individual first becomes eligible, whichever is later. This change, in effect, eliminates prorated payments in initial claims.
Changes the method of computing the SSI benefit to persons receiving OASDI payments. The effect of the increased OASDI income at the time of the
cost-of-living increase is not delayed as it otherwise would be.
The first $60 of earned or unearned income per calendar quarter for an individual or couple; the next $195 and one-half the remainder of quarterly
earned income. Unearned income includes Social Security benefits, other government or private pensions, veterans’ benefits, and workers’ compensation.
Irregularly or infrequently received income totaling $60 or less of unearned income and $30 of earned income in a calendar quarter.
Disaster assistance from income for 9 months and application of one-third reduction for 6 months for certain victims of disasters occurring between January 1, 1976 and December 31, 1976.
Any assistance based on need (including vendor payments) made to or on behalf of SSI recipients that is paid and wholly funded by State or local governments.
Food stamps, federally donated food, and the value of free or reduced price food for women and children under the Child Nutrition Act and National School Lunch Act.
Earned income tax credit (EITC) treated as earned income (temporarily excluded from 1975 through 1980).
Impairment-related work expenses paid by the individual (including cost for attendant care, medical equipment, drugs, and services necessary to control an impairment) are deducted from earnings when determining if an individual is engaging in SGA. Impairment-related work expenses are excluded in calculating income for benefit purposes if initial eligibility for benefits exists on the basis of
countable income without applying this exclusion.
From December 18, 1982 to September 30, 1983, certain home energy assistance payments are excluded if a State agency certified that they are based on need.
Modifies the 1982 resource exclusion for burial funds to extend the exclusion to any burial fund of $1,500 or less maintained separately from all other assets, thereby allowing interest to be excluded from income if retained in the fund.
Permits the student earned income exclusion to apply to any individual under age 22 who is a student. Therefore,
students under age 22 who are married or heads of households would be eligible for the exclusion. Effective April 2005.
Modifies the Internal Revenue Code to define a type of tax-advantaged account in which money can be saved for the benefit of certain individuals who became disabled or blind prior to age 26. Contributions to an Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) account are excluded from the income of the account’s designated beneficiary. Furthermore, interest and dividends accrued by and retained within an ABLE account are also excluded. Finally, distributions from an ABLE account are not income.
5Countable resources limited to $1,500 or less for an individual and to $2,250 or less for a couple.
A home of reasonable value—established by regulation as not exceeding a fair-market value of $25,000 ($35,000 in Alaska and Hawaii).
An automobile of reasonable value—established by regulation as not exceeding a market value of $1,200.
Reasonable value for an automobile increased by regulation to $4,500 of current-market value; personal goods and household effects increased to $2,000 of equity value.
The unspent portion of any retroactive OASDI or SSI payment is excluded for 6 months following its receipt, and the individual must be given written notice of the time limit on the exclusion.
Regulations permit exclusion, regardless of value, of an automobile needed for essential transportation or modified for a person with a disability. The $4,500 current market value limit applies only if no automobile could be excluded based on the nature of its use.
Regulations permit exclusion, regardless of value, of:
Modifies the Internal Revenue Code to define a type of tax-advantaged account in which money can be saved for the benefit of certain individuals who became disabled prior to age 26. The first $100,000 of the balance of an Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) account is excluded. Additionally, if the amount in excess of $100,000 in an SSI recipient’s ABLE account causes the recipient to exceed the SSI resource limit, then the recipient’s monthly cash payments are suspended, but the recipient keeps eligibility for Medicaid and SSI.
6 Any distribution for a qualified disability expense that is not housing-related is excluded from resources in the month it is used or in a month for which it is intended to be used for such expenses.
Restores Medicaid eligibility for some disabled widow(er)s who became ineligible for SSI when their OASDI benefits increased in 1984 because of a change in the Social Security disabled widow(er)s benefits reduction factor.
Authorizes SSA to establish automated information exchanges with payroll data providers. Recipients who give SSA permission to obtain their wages through such an exchange will not be subject to a penalty,
7 under section 1129A of the Social Security Act (Act), for any omission or error with respect to wages reported by the payroll data provider(s). Additionally, we will find good cause and not subject individuals to a penalty of monetary deduction from their SSI payments under section 1631(e)(2) of the Act, if they fail or delay to report a change in employer.
