State Assistance Programs for SSI Recipients, January 2004
Massachusetts
State Supplementation
Mandatory Minimum Supplementation
Administration: Social Security Administration.
Optional State Supplementation
Administration: Social Security Administration.
Effective date: January 1, 1974.
Statutory basis for payment: General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, chapter 118A, section 1.
Funding
Administration: State funds.
Assistance: State funds.
Passalong method: Maintaining payment levels.
Place of application: Social Security Administration field offices.
Scope of coverage: Optional state supplement provided to every aged, blind, and disabled SSI recipient, including children, and recipients in private medical facilities where the Medicaid program provides 50 percent or less of the cost of care.
Resource limitations: Federal SSI regulations apply.
Income exclusions: Federal SSI regulations apply.
Recoveries, liens, and assignments: None.
Financial responsibility of relatives: None.
Interim assistance: State participates.
Payment levels: See Table 1.
Living arrangement | State code |
Combined federal and state |
State supplementation | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Individual | Couple a | Individual | Couple a | ||
Living independently | A | ||||
Aged | 692.82 | 1,047.72 | 128.82 | 201.72 | |
Blind | 713.74 | 1,427.48 | 149.74 | 581.48 | |
Disabled | 678.39 | 1,026.06 | 114.39 | 180.06 | |
Shared living expenses | B | ||||
Aged | 603.26 | 1,047.72 | 39.26 | 201.72 | |
Blind | 713.74 | 1,427.48 | 149.74 | 581.48 | |
Disabled | 594.40 | 1,026.06 | 30.40 | 180.06 | |
Living in the household of another | C | ||||
Aged | 480.36 | 779.80 | 104.36 | 215.80 | |
Blind | 713.74 | 1,427.48 | 337.74 | 863.48 | |
Disabled | 463.58 | 758.18 | 87.58 | 194.18 | |
Licensed rest home | E | ||||
Aged and disabled | 857.00 | 1,714.00 | 293.00 | 868.00 | |
Blind | 713.74 | 1,427.48 | 149.74 | 581.48 | |
Medicaid facility | F | 65.00 | 130.00 | 35.00 | 70.00 |
Assisted living facility | G | 1,018.00 | 1,527.00 | 454.00 | 681.00 |
NOTE: Blind individuals aged 65 or older are entitled to the highest payment category for which they qualify. | |||||
a. The amounts given apply when both members of a couple belong to the same eligibility category. When members belong to different eligibility categories, the two respective individual benefits are added to obtain the couple's benefit. | |||||
DEFINITIONS:
|
Number of recipients: See Table 2.
Living arrangement | State code |
Total | Aged | Blind | Disabled | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adults | Children | |||||
All recipients | 168,042 | 44,648 | 4,019 | 96,875 | 22,500 | |
Living independently | A | 77,748 | 26,387 | 1,446 | 43,890 | 6,025 |
Shared living expenses | B | 73,022 | 11,991 | 1,887 | 44,363 | 14,781 |
Living in the household of another | C | 11,222 | 2,950 | 529 | 6,397 | 1,346 |
Licensed rest home | E | 1,890 | 1,120 | 18 | 751 | 1 |
Medicaid facility | F | 2,906 | 1,197 | 10 | 1,352 | 347 |
Assisted living facility | G | 1,254 | 1,003 | 129 | 122 | 0 |
State Assistance for Special Needs
Administration
State Department of Transitional Assistance and Commission for the Blind.
Special Needs Circumstances
Vendor payments in lieu of cash payments.
Disaster benefits: Replacement of specific items of furniture, household equipment, supplies, food, and clothing for SSI recipients when these items were lost because of a natural disaster or fire. (Amounts exempted in determining SSI eligibility.)
Burial expenses: Payment of funeral and burial expenses for SSI recipients shall not exceed $1,100, and the total expense shall not exceed $1,500. When a resource exists, it is deductible from the total expense (maximum $1,500), and the payment by the department must not exceed $1,100 of the balance.
Rest home subsidies: When cost exceeds the total available income, excluding personal needs allowance, the state will pay difference up to established maximum rates.
Moving expenses: The cost of moving within the state for SSI recipients may be paid once in a 12-month period if:
- Present living quarters have been certified as substandard,
- Moving to new quarters is necessary because of health problems or lack of safety in old neighborhood,
- Recipient is moving into federal or state subsidized housing, or
- Recipient is forced to move for other reasons.
Total payment not to exceed $150.
Homemaker and housekeeper services: The Department of Elder Affairs performs homemaker and housekeeping services for recipients aged 60 or older. The Department of Transitional Assistance provides these services for recipients under age 60.
Medicaid
Eligibility
Criteria: SSI program guidelines (Title XVI).
Determined by: Social Security Administration.
Medically Needy Program
State provides a program for the aged, blind, and disabled medically needy.
Unpaid Medical Expenses
The Social Security Administration obtains this information.