State Assistance Programs for SSI Recipients, January 2007

Vermont

State Supplementation

Mandatory Minimum Supplementation

No recipients.

Optional State Supplementation

Administration: Social Security Administration.

Effective date: January 1, 1974.

Statutory basis for payment: Vermont Statutes Annotated, title 33, chapter 13, Aid to Aged, Blind, and Disabled.

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 all SSI-eligible aged, blind, and disabled individuals, including children.

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 calculation method: The state supplementation is added to the federal payment. Countable income is deducted first from the federal payment. Any income that remains to be counted after the federal payment has been reduced to zero is then deducted from the state supplementary payment.

Payment levels: See Table 1.

Table 1. Optional state supplementation payment levels, January 2007 (in dollars)
Living arrangement State code Combined federal and state State supplementation
Individual Couple Individual Couple
Living independently A and B 675.04 1,032.88 52.04 98.88
Assistive community care, Level III C 671.38 1,030.77 48.38 96.77
Living in the household of another E 454.64 670.98 39.30 48.31
Residential care home, Level IV G 846.94 1,496.06 223.94 562.06
Custodial care family home H 721.69 1,266.82 98.69 332.82
Medicaid facility I 47.66 95.33 17.66 35.33
SOURCE: Social Security Administration, Office of Income Security Programs.
DEFINITIONS:
A and B: Living independently
Includes eligible recipients who are not in any other state living arrangement. Includes children who are living with parents, recipients residing in private Title XIX facilities where Medicaid is not paying more than 50 percent of the cost of care, and recipients residing in publicly operated emergency shelters throughout a month.
C: Assistive community care, Level III
Includes any individual who resides in a Level III residential care home that is certified by the Department of Aging and Independent Living to provide assistive community care services.
E: Living in the household of another
Includes recipients residing in a federal Code B living arrangement who are not otherwise exempted from state supplementation.
G: Residential care home, Level IV
Includes recipients living in Level IV community homes identified by the state.
H: Custodial care family home
Includes recipients who reside in a federal Code A living arrangement, live in another's home, pay room and board, and receive one or more custodial services. Custodial care includes providing basic room and board, plus such services as help with feeding, dressing, bathing, moving under normal circumstances, and occasional tray service and supervision for the recipients' protection. To qualify as a home under this arrangement, these services must be provided by a resident of the home and cannot be provided to more than two persons in the home. Custodial care or supervision provided by a spouse is not included under this arrangement.
I: Medicaid facility
Includes recipients residing in a federal Code D living arrangement.

Number of recipients: See Table 2.

Table 2. Number of persons receiving optional state supplementation, January 2007
Living arrangement State code Total Aged Blind Disabled
Adults Children
All recipients 13,185 1,100 75 9,526 2,484
Living independently A and B 11,667 1,016 62 8,332 2,527
Assistive community care, Level III C 240 42 3 192 3
Living in the household of another E 245 18 0 166 61
Residential care home, Level IV G 128 9 1 112 6
Custodial care family home H 822 7 9 656 150
Medicaid facility I 83 8 0 68 7
SOURCE: Social Security Administration, Supplemental Security Record, 100 percent data.

State Assistance for Special Needs

Administration

Agency of Human Services, Department for Children and Families, Economic Services Division.

Special Needs Circumstances

Emergency assistance is provided, under certain conditions, for court-ordered evictions, natural disasters (e.g., fire, flood, or hurricane), emergency medical care, funeral costs, and emergency fuel needs.

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 does not obtain this information.