Voters Support Eliminating SSI Benefits Cuts for Recipients Receiving In-Kind Support
By Matthew Cortland and Kirby Phares
The Social Security Administration has announced a proposed rule change to the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program that would stop penalizing beneficiaries who receive help with food. SSI provides monthly benefit payments to about 5 million impoverished disabled people and older adults. Under the current rules, if an SSI beneficiary receives any help with food, like a bag of groceries from a family member or a plate of leftovers from a roommate, their SSI benefit is cut by about one-third. In 2023, the maximum SSI benefit for a single adult is $914 per month, and the maximum a beneficiary who gets any help with food in that month could receive is $609.34. The federal poverty level for a single adult in 2023 is $1,215 per month.
Data for Progress’s previous polling from May 2021, in partnership with the Century Foundation’s Disability Economic Justice Collaborative, found that likely voters support eliminating this penalty. A majority of voters (72 percent) support eliminating cuts to monthly SSI benefits for people who receive help from family and friends. This support includes 83 percent of Democrats, 69 percent of Independents, and 62 percent of Republicans.
SSI is a lifeline for many Americans, and impoverished disabled Americans and seniors should not be penalized for receiving alternative assistance from friends and family when the federal government fails to provide sufficient support.
The proposed rule will be open for public comment until April 17, 2023.
Millions of people with disabilities and older adults rely on monthly benefits for financial support; therefore, lawmakers need to commit to improving SSI. With voters in support of updating the program, President Biden must prioritize making improvements that will help many Americans without delay.
Matthew Cortland (@mattbc) is a senior resident fellow at Data for Progress and former SSI beneficiary.
Kirby Phares is a senior analyst at Data for Progress.
Survey Methodology
From May 21 to May 23, 2021, Data for Progress, in partnership with the Century Foundation, conducted a survey of 1,250 likely voters nationally using web-panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points.