State Assistance Programs for SSI Recipients, January 2009

Texas

State Supplementation

Mandatory Minimum Supplementation

No recipients.

Optional State Supplementation

Administration: Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

Effective date: September 1, 1999.

Statutory basis for payment: Texas Human Resources Code, section 32.024(V).

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 recipients residing in nursing or intermediate care facilities for the mentally retarded and whose countable income is less than $60.

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 does not participate.

Payment calculation method: The state pays a supplement to individuals who reside in Medicaid facilities.

Payment levels: See Table 1.

Table 1. Optional state supplementation payment levels, January 2009 (in dollars)
Living arrangement	Combined federal and state		State supplementation
Living arrangement	Individual	Couple	Individual	Couple
Medicaid facility	90.00	a	60.00	a
SOURCES: Social Security Administration, Office of Income Security Programs; state information.
a. Couples residing in this living arrangement for more than 30 days are treated as two individuals.
DEFINITION: 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 2009
Living arrangement	Total	Aged	Blind	Disabled
Medicaid facility	2,444	301	30	2,113
SOURCE: State information.

Total expenditures: The state reported expenditures of $442,445 for calendar year 2008 in state-administered payments to SSI recipients.

State Assistance for Special Needs

State does not provide assistance for special needs.

Medicaid

Eligibility

Criteria: SSI program guidelines (Title XVI).

Determined by: Social Security Administration.

Medically Needy Program

State provides a program for families and children.

Unpaid Medical Expenses

The Social Security Administration obtains this information.