Oregon

State Supplementation

Mandatory Minimum Supplementation

Administration: State Department of Human Services, Adult and Family Services Division, Senior and Disabled Services Division (state-administered in local offices).

Optional State Supplementation

Administration: State Department of Human Services, Adult and Family Services Division, Senior and Disabled Services Division (state-administered in local offices).

Effective date: January 1, 1974.

Statutory basis for payment: Oregon Revised Statutes 411.120.

Funding

Administration: State funds.

Assistance: State funds.

Passalong method: Maintaining total expenditures.

Place of application: Local offices of the Department of Human Services.

Scope of coverage: Optional state supplement provided to all SSI recipients residing in the specified living arrangements. Blind children are eligible for state supplementation; disabled children under age 18 are ineligible.

Resource limitations: Federal SSI limitations used, except that the transfer of a home may render a person ineligible after 60 months from the date of application per the Deficit Reduction Act.

Income exclusions: Federal SSI earned income exclusions used. No unearned income is excluded.

Recoveries, liens, and assignments: Assistance paid constitutes an unsecured prior claim against property or any interest therein belonging to the estate of a recipient except such portion as is being occupied as a home by the spouse, minor dependent child, or parent of deceased recipient. The Department of Human Services may compromise claim by accepting other security or may waive payment when enforcement would be inequitable and would tend to defeat the purpose of public assistance law.

Financial responsibility of relatives: None.

Interim assistance: State participates.

Payment calculation method: The state issues a standard supplement of $1.70 to aged individuals; $26.70 to blind individuals; and $25.60 to blind couples living independently in the household of another. The state no longer provides a supplement to couples who reside in adult foster care or residential care. For all benefits that qualify as special needs, a check is issued to the recipient for the amount of the supplement.

Payment levels: See Table 1.

Number of recipients: See Table 2.

State Assistance for Special Needs

Administration

State Department of Human Services.

Special Needs Circumstances

Clothing for employment: Essential clothing may be provided for a recipient to begin employment if the recipient has been accepted for a job.

Special diet: Payment for a special diet will be allowed if need has been established by a physician and the recipient maintains independent living.

Restaurant meals: Restaurant meals are allowed in addition to the standard supplemental payments when the recipient is unable to prepare meals because of a physical or mental disability.

Laundry allowances: Laundry allowances are provided when the recipient has no available laundry facilities of any kind or is so disabled that he or she cannot do his or her own laundry and there is no other person living in the home who can do it.

Telephone allowances: Telephone allowances may be provided when the recipient lives alone and is housebound, lives in a situation so remote that a telephone is essential, or needs a telephone to maintain a job.

Maintenance for guide dogs: Payment for food will be made for guide dogs or special assistive animals.

Moving expenses: Moving costs will be provided if moving is essential to provide nonhazardous housing for the recipient or if the recipient has been evicted for reasons not attributable to his or her neglect or his or her failure to pay rent or house payments.

Household equipment costs: Certain items of household equipment may be purchased or repaired if the recipient is unable to obtain them without cost; a one-time payment of chattel mortgages or sales contracts may be made to prevent repossession if the cost of replacing an essential item exceeds the balance due on the contract.

Shelter exceptions: Additional payment is made for shelter expenses in situations in which the recipient has special needs that make it impractical or impossible to rent or continue to purchase adequate housing with current benefit payment.

Transportation expenses: Certain transportation expenses may be provided to meet specific needs of recipients.

Community transition services: Individuals leaving a nursing facility or an acute care hospital can receive payments for such items as security deposits, utility hookups, furnishings, and so on.

Medicaid

Eligibility

Criteria: SSI program guidelines (Title XVI).

Determined by: State.

Medically Needy Program

State does not provide a program for the medically needy.

Unpaid Medical Expenses

The Social Security Administration does not obtain this information.