CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
I. INTRODUCTION
II. Highlights
A. Recent Program Experience
B. SSI Legislation Since The 2017 Annual Report
C. Current Issues Facing The SSI Program
D. Key Results From The 25-Year Projections
III. The Supplemental Security Income Program
A. Background
B. The Basic Plan
C. Uniform Standards and Objective Criteria
D. Assistance of Last Resort
1. Income
2. Resources
3. Filing for Other Benefits
4. Eligibility Issues for Residents of Public Institutions or Medical Treatment Facilities
5. Personal Needs Allowance
6. Deeming
a. Spouse-to-Spouse Deeming
b. Parent-to-Child Deeming
c. Sponsor-to-Alien Deeming
E. Incentives for Work and Opportunities for Rehabilitation
1. Earned Income Exclusion
2. Impairment-Related Work Expense Exclusion
3. Work Expenses of the Blind Exclusion
4. Student Earned Income Exclusion
5. Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS)
6. Special Provisions for Disabled Recipients Who Work
7. Vocational Rehabilitation/Ticket to Work Program
8. Expedited Reinstatement
F. Administration of the SSI Program
1. Application Process
2. Determination of Eligibility for Benefits
3. Payment of Benefits
4. Ensuring Continued Eligibility for Benefits
5. Representative Payees
6. Appeal Rights
7. Fees for Attorneys and Non-attorney Representatives
8. Advance Payments
a. Emergency Advance Payments
b. Presumptive Disability or Blindness
G. State Supplementation
1. Optional State Supplementation Programs
2. Mandatory State Supplementation Programs
3. Administration of State Supplementation Payments
4. Passalong Provisions
H. Coordination with Other Programs
1. Windfall Offset
2. Interim Assistance Reimbursement
3. Medicaid Determinations
4. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Applications
IV. ESTIMATES OF PROGRAM RECIPIENTS AND FEDERAL EXPENDITURES
UNDER THE SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME PROGRAM, 2018‑2042
A. Demographic and Economic Assumptions
B. Numbers of SSI Program Recipients
1. Recipient Categories
2. Applications and New Recipients
3. Terminations
4. Recipients in Current Payment Status
C. Federal Payments Under SSI
D. Federal SSI Payments as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product
E. The SSI Program’s Share of SSA’S Administrative Costs and Beneficiary Services Costs
V. Appendices
A. History of Provisions
1. Basic Eligibility Requirements
2. Other Eligibility Provisions
a. Citizenship and U.S. Residency
b. Other Benefits
c. Drug Addiction and Alcoholism
d. Institutionalization
e. Vocational Rehabilitation and Treatment
f. Continuing Disability Reviews and Eligibility Redeterminations
g. Deeming of Income and Resources
3. Federal Benefit Payments
a. Windfall Offset
b. Proration of Benefit
c. Retrospective Monthly Accounting
d. Uncashed Checks
e. Rounding of Payment Amounts
f. Penalties for False or Misleading Statements or Withholding of Information
g. Installment Payments
h. Retroactive Payments to Prisoners, Fugitive Felons, and Probation or Parole Violators
4. Federal Benefit Rates
5. Exclusions from Income
a. General Exclusions
b. Special Exclusions
6. Resources
a. General Exclusions
b. Special Exclusions
c. Transfer-of-Resources Penalties
7. Presumptive and Emergency Payments and Interim Assistance Reimbursement
a. Presumptive Payments
b. Emergency Advance Payments
c. Interim Assistance Reimbursement
8. Medicaid Eligibility
9. State Supplementation
10. Overpayment Recovery
11. Fees for Attorneys and Non-Attorney Representatives
12. Administration of the Program
B. Income and Resource Exclusions
1. Earned Income Exclusions
2. Unearned Income Exclusions
3. Resource Exclusions
C. Historical Allowance Data
1. Technical Notes on the Disability Research File
2. General Considerations
D. HISTORICAL NON-MEDICAL REDETERMINATION AND MEDICAL CONTINUING DISABILITY REVIEW DATA
1. Non-medical Redeterminations
2. Medical Continuing Disability Reviews
E. Incentives for Work and Opportunities for Rehabilitation
1. Work Incentives
a. Numbers of Participants in Work Incentive Programs
b. Average Earnings of Participants in Work Incentive Programs
2. Vocational Rehabilitation/Ticket to Work Program
F. Involvement of SSI Recipients in Other Programs
G. Research on Related Topics
1. Ongoing Research
a. SSI Policy Simulations
b. National Survey of SSI Children and Families
c. SSI Research through the Retirement and Disability Research Consortium
d. Analytic Studies
e. Evaluation of the Ticket to Work Program
f. Youth Transition Demonstration
g. Occupational Information System
h. Homeless with Schizophrenia Presumptive Disability Pilot Demonstration
i. Promoting Readiness of Minors in SSI
j. Supported Employment Demonstration
k. SSI Elderly Notice Pilot
2. Bibliography of Recent Publications
H. Glossary
ADDITIONAL STATEMENT BY THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADVISORY BOARD