Last month, the Social Security Administration said that it will stop issuing supplemental security income (SSI) checks to millions of people who receive them and that they will continue to reside in poverty permanently. The figures circulated by the SSA show more than 100,000 people nationwide have been kicked off the SSI rolls last year. From May 2023 to May 2024, the number of people receiving Supplemental Security Income checks dropped 119,395 people from 7,380,737 in 2023 to 7,261,342 this year. For those who are already receiving SSI benefits or soon will apply for the Social Security benefits, here are some of the reasons why they are down this year.
More than 100,000 people will no longer receive SSI benefits in the US
Adults and children who are blind, have little or no income, and are disabled are frequently eligible for SSI benefits. About 6.1 million of SSA’s payroll for this type of benefit, roughly 1.1 million are aged 65 and over, and are part of this group. In the two eligible categories of disabled or blind claimants no longer receiving the benefit, there was a total decrease of 140,034 from 6,281,068 in May 2023 to 6,141,034 in May 2024. Overall, there were 20,639 more beneficiaries in the 65+ group (1,120,308) than the previous year (1,099,669).
It’s not immediately clear why the number of blind or disabled users has dropped during that time. Newsweek emailed the SSA for an explanation and found that more than 10,000 people in several states had been taken off SSI benefits. Yet, in the state that experienced the largest number of applications of all 50 states, there is a decrease of 16,573 SSI applications in California from May 2023 to 2024. In addition, some 17,000 people, all receiving disability benefits, lost eligibility and were deemed blind or disabled. The number of people in this category fell from 708,695 to 690,351.
In addition, the number of SSI beneficiaries in Texas fell by 14,587 from 591,710 in May 2023 to 577,123. In addition, elsewhere in states with high population density, the numbers of SSI claimants also fell. In New York, for example, SSI beneficiaries declined from 568,777 to 559,222. But in other states, the number of people claiming SSI benefits changed little. The number of SSI recipients in North Dakota dropped by only 17 people, from 7,923 in 2011 to 7,906 in 2012. With the exception, one of these recipients was crippled or blind. Finally, other states also have small variations, such as Rhode Island, with a variation in the number of beneficiaries of about 300 persons a year, from a total of 30 317 people in the year 2023 up to 30 015 people in May.
Social Security changes in disability benefits, including SSI benefits
Changes announced by the SSA last month will affect how the SSA reviews the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program and SSI benefits applications. The agency proposed a change to streamline the disability determination process. The agency said final rule updates, which were announced Tuesday, are intended to make the disability claims process more fair and reduce wait times for decisions. The fourth step is simplified by this new rule: it determines if an applicant can perform any relevant work. These final rule changes allow the agency to only look back five years for prior relevant work, meaning prior work will have commenced no more than five years before the final rule’s effective date of June 22, 2024.
Previously, SSA required people to supply reams of information about their past 15 years of employment, which could be tiresome and inaccurate or incomplete. The agency will no longer consider jobs that start and stop within 30 calendar days. “The new regulation will help make it easier for people to apply for benefits because they can concentrate on their most recent relevant job activity while providing as much information as necessary to be accurate in all cases,” the federal agency said.