Federal SSI Benefit Analysis

You’ve spent a lifetime paying into Social Security, and you may not have ever noticed because the money is taken directly from your paycheck each pay period. When you’re thinking about retirement, though, it’s important to understand your Social Security benefits so you can plan for the future. Able Advocate For Social Security Claims, based in Honolulu, HI, has been helping Hawaii residents navigate the system and get the Social Security benefits they deserve in a timely manner.

Texas, which currently has a large uninsured population and limited Medicaid eligibility, forfeits billions of dollars from the federal government every year by not expanding its Medicaid program as implemented in the Affordable Care Act. In contrast, Medicaid expansion could benefit the state exponentially and give its citizens the fullest potential of what this country offers. A substantial amount of federal funding that could increase uninsured coverage, improve healthcare costs, and provide economic stimulus is left on the table. Additionally, the nation benefits when each state participates, contributing to the success of the healthcare reform.

One of the states that have not participated in the Medicaid expansion is Florida. States that are opting out in the Medicaid expansion can leave several citizens uninsured and their health will be at risk. Currently, since the America’s Supreme Court has given the states more flexibility relating to the Affordable Care Act, some states are opting out of the Medicaid expansion plan that is intended to give low-income citizens in the state dependable healthcare. To reasons the state of Florida opting out the Medicaid expansion, the governor of Florida stated, that Floridians are more interested in economic growth and employment, better quality of education for their children, and that they keep the cost of their living low. Florida State is

Certain assets of the beneficiary are exempted from determining eligibility under for SSI and Medi-Cal purposes (generally the same items). (42 U.S.C.A. § 1382b and 42 U.S.C.A. § 1396p(h) and Cal. Code Regs. tit. 22, § 50418.) Exempted assets are listed in the statute and generally include those assets listed under “Permissible Distributions” in the section below, Allowed Distributions. Those resource limits are $2,000 for an individual or $3,000 for a couple. (20 C.F.R. § 416.1205, Cal. Code Regs. tit. 22, § 50419 and Cal. Code Regs. tit. 22, § 50420.) Also, for eligibility purposes, the income and resources of a minor child are deemed to include the income and resources of the parents. (20 C.F.R. § 416.1202(b).)

States determine what the requirements are for eligibility, and the benefits that the people will be subject to. They are required to provide some “mandatory benefits”, and can chose to

Although jointly administered by federal and the state governments, states’ partnership in the Medicaid program is not mandatory. Nevertheless, all states have elected to offer Medicaid insurance to eligible people in their domain. Furthermore, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) should have an authorization of the state’s Medicaid program after the state fulfilled the conditions of Title XIX of the Social Security Act for a state to obtain the federal Medicaid matching

Medicaid expansion is seen as a huge problem in this case it takes place among the 50 states. The environment includes the 50 states such as California, Texas, New York and New Jersey. Medicaid expansion offers financial protection. It also addresses the uncompensated care problem which involves paying and reimbursement for service rendered. Medicaid expansion also provides customers access to affordable coverage, as well as customers taking up that cover, which is a moral duty of the government. Medicaid also supports politically powerful interest groups who support expansion. The expansion of Medicaid helps rural hospitals stay afloat in states like Colorado, which added 400,000 people to the health insurance program under

Money is money but if you’re living in an apartment and rent costs you $400.00 a month, you aren’t going to have enough money. If you get food stamps then you’re getting free money from the state for food. Most people get food stamps because they don’t have a job. You can only get food stamps up to the day you get a job that pays you just enough money to pay for rent and food. “The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) is the nation's most important anti-hunger program.” In order to get food stamps you have to meet the standards. “Households have to meet income tests unless all members are receiving TANF, SSI, or in some places general assistance. Most households must meet both the gross and net income tests, but a household with an elderly person or a person who is receiving certain types of disability payments only has to meet the net income test. Households, except those noted, that have income over the amounts listed below cannot get SNAP

The Graham-Cassidy bill would dramatically redistribute federal funds provided for Medicaid expansion to the states. According to the article, states that were early adopters of the ACA and the Medicaid expansion,

Some of these state policies directly affect the elderly. Several states have an option called the Supplemental Security Income Combined Application Project (SSI-CAPS) which target the elderly and those with disabilities. These SSI-CAPS state programs often have states giving the elderly, who receive SSI, a set benefit amount based on whether they have high shelter expenses or low shelter expenses. States can subsequently combine their determination of SNAP benefit with that of the SSI benefit (USDA, Fact Sheet USDA Support for Older Americans, 0202.15, 2015). In some states it is required to use the itemized amount of deductions. Versus other states use a standard medical deduction amount. These variations in the way that medical deductions are calculated effect the benefit amount and eligibility for the elderly. While categorical eligibility is important in state variation, the elderly already do not need to meet the gross monthly income test. Although, the removal of the asset test still applies to elderly. However, it should be noted that most elderly often have most of their assets in property or homes that are not considered in asset calculations (Center of Budget and Policy Priorities,

This creates a dilemma for the state as it could risk loosing the matching federal Medicaid funds for such services if a violation occurs. For the purposes of this review, I will focus on Stark II Phase III of the final rule.

“Dual eligible” is a term that refers to about 7.5 million low-income older people and younger persons who have disabilities who happen to be enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid. Nearly two thirds of the people who are dual eligible are ages 65 years and over. The remaining one-third of the dual eligible are younger people who are disabled. People who are dual eligible qualify for full benefits through Medicaid. Even though the people who are dual eligible are a small share of Medicaid enrollment, they account for numerous health care services and expenditures (Wilhide, 2005). There are more than half a million Floridians in the coverage gap. Florida has a huge Medicaid population which accounts for about 3.3 million people. Most adults in Florida who don’t have any children are not Medicaid eligible. When people in this state have low-income below the poverty level, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) won’t provide subsidies, because the law recommends that they have Medicaid instead (Norris, 2015).

     Several federal agencies today support and administer the various Social Security programs. The programs associated with Social Security include Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI), Medicare, Unemployment Compensation, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). For people who have worked for a living, OASDI and Medicare provide support during their older years and when they have stopped working. Unemployment Compensation provides temporary financial help during periods between jobs. SSI provides income to people who cannot work for various reasons. The OASDI

One of the primary criticism of Medi-Cal expansion is that it is complicated for beneficiaries to find doctors that will accept their insurance, and many patients have to travel great distances to see medical providers (Gorman 2015). Under the California’s Medicaid State Plan, the state assures nonemergency medical transportation to all Medi-Cal beneficiaries (California’s Title XIX State Plan for Assurance of Transportation, 2011). However, the state failed to provide basic statewide guidelines, and it became optional for counties to provide the benefit. This is the pre-context of the AB 2394, Medi-Cal: nonmedical transportation. People living in rural areas are reported to have worse health outcomes, often do not receive preventative care,

SSI recipients get a check every month from Social Security Administration. That check amount currently is 889.40, consisting of $733 from the federal government and $156 that is supplemented from the state of California. Over the last fifteen years, the state of California has made some decisions that have affected the amount it supplements drastically in order to save the state some money. In 2009, the SSP was cut from 233 to 171 for single adults. in 2011 the state made cut the portion they provide from $171 to $156. In a two year span the state of California eliminate $77 from people budgets. The state also decided to mess with the Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) that are given yearly. Starting in the year 2001, the state passed the