The Social Security Administration has announced that millions of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients will no longer receive monthly payments from the government. According to the Social Security Administration, almost 100,000 persons were removed from the SSI registers last year.
Supplemental Security Income payments decreased from 7,380,737 people in May 2023 to 7,261,342 in May 2024. This is because 119,395 fewer people received SSI benefits in May 2024 than in May 2023. If you get SSI benefits or plan to apply for this Social Security program in the future, learn more about why the number of participants is declining.
More Than 100,000 People Will No Longer Get SSI Benefits in the United States
Blind adults and disabled children with low or no income are frequently eligible for SSI assistance. This group includes the 7.2 million people who get this form of income from the Social Security Administration. They make up the majority of SSI claimants (6.1 million). The remaining 1.1 million are aged 65 and up.
Between May 2023 and May 2024, the number of injured or blind claimants who no longer received benefits decreased by 140,034, from 6,281,068 to 6,141,034 in those two groups. Overall, 20,639 more people aged 65 and up (1,120,308) received assistance than the year before (1,099,669).
There is no clear explanation for the decline in the number of blind or disabled users during that time. Newsweek emailed the SSA to find out what was going on and discovered that over 10,000 people in numerous states were no longer receiving SSI benefits.
From May 2023 to April 2024, the number of SSI applications in California decreased by 16,573, even though the state had the most applications of any 50. Additionally, over 17,000 persons who were receiving disability benefits lost their eligibility. The majority of these persons were blind or crippled. The number of people who received assistance in this area decreased from 708,695 to 690,351.
Also, the number of SSI recipients in Texas fell by 14,587, from 591,710 in May 2023 to 577,123. The number of people filing for SSI has similarly decreased in other states with dense populations. For example, in New York, the number of people receiving SSI decreased from 568,777 to 559,222.
In some areas, the number of people receiving SSI benefits remained relatively stable. In North Dakota, the number of people receiving SSI decreased from 7,923 last year to 7,906 this year, a mere 17 people. Only one of these individuals was neither blind nor disabled.
Finally, some other states had minor alterations. For example, in Rhode Island, the number of recipients increased from 30,317 in 2023 to 30,015 in May, or a 300-person increase per year.
Social Security Adjusts Disability Benefits, Including SSI Payouts
Last month, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced changes to how Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applications are reviewed. The office proposed the adjustment to make the process of determining whether someone has a disability easier.
The federal agency has stated that improvements would be made to the final rule to improve the process of filing for disability payments and reduce the amount of time people have to wait for results.
The fourth phase, which determines if the applicant is capable of performing the relevant job, is now made easier by the new rule. The final rule, which went into effect on June 22, 2024, states that the government will only look back five years to evaluate if previous work is still helpful.
Before this adjustment, the Social Security Administration requested that people provide extensive information about their work over the previous 15 years. This may make it difficult to provide information, resulting in inaccurate or incomplete reports.
The agency will also no longer consider assignments that start and terminate in less than 30 calendar days. The government agency stated: “The new rule makes it easier for people to apply for benefits because they can focus on their most recent relevant job activity while still giving enough information for accurate evaluations.”