The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides benefits to disabled individuals who have limited income and assets, but some of these recipients are seeing that their benefits are stopping or reduced due to receiving stimulus payments. This should not be happening.
Because SSI is a needs-based program, income and assets are limited. Stimulus payments that some SSI recipients have received are putting them over income and asset limitations, which is why their benefits are being reduced, but Social Security should not be considering these payments as income. Under U.S. Code, these payments should be considered tax credits and not income.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any refund (or advance payment with respect to a refundable credit) made to any individual under this title shall not be taken into account as income, and shall not be taken into account as resources for a period of 12 months from receipt, for purposes of determining the eligibility of such individual (or any other individual) for benefits or assistance (or the amount or extent of benefits or assistance) under any Federal program or under any State or local program financed in whole or in part with Federal funds.
Simply put, Social Security is making a mistake by either eliminating or reducing SSI benefits to these individuals and the problem needs to be rectified. Prior to stimulus payments being issued, these recipients were informed that the stimulus payments would not count against them and that SSI payments would not be reduced. Now many of these recipients are appealing decisions and trying to get SSA to understand the mistake, but it is causing undue stress and anxiety for these recipients who have done nothing wrong on their own. This is something that never should have happened and Social Security needs to fix this problem right away.
