Some get boost in benefits.

back

Some get boost in benefits.
Social Security checks for $1,174.
by Sharon Michael, The Olympian
October 29, 2003

About 500 Thurston County residents are among the 24,000 blind and over-65 people receiving federal Supplemental Security Income who will get a $1,174 check from the state next month.

The state Department of Social and Health Services sent letters Tuesday to those who qualify for the payments, notifying them that the checks will go out in November.

The payments make up for monthly state cash supplements eliminated by the Legislature for the 2002-03 fiscal year through December.

In January, the state expects to implement supplemental SSI payments of about $50 per month for the blind and elderly who are receiving federal SSI benefits.

In 2001, state supplements ranged from $3 to $166 per month. But all SSI recipients on the books in November will receive a one-time payment of $1,174 in addition to their federal SSI check.

The 2001 average state supplement was $25 per month, but the state is required to distribute $28 million by the end of the calendar year to comply with a federal directive.

Federal SSI benefits are the same nationwide. In January, qualified individuals will receive $564 per month, and eligible couples will get $846. Currently, individual benefits are $552 per month, and couples receive $829.

Lewis-Mason-Thurston Area Agency on Aging staff members who work directly with seniors say the loss of state SSI supplements hurt some more than others.

"If you're trying to live on $550 or so a month, even a $15 loss is a lot," said Bonnie Workman, an assistance specialist.

Because income qualifications varied for state and federal benefits, some seniors received only the state supplemental benefit.

"The supplemental may have been quite small, but it brought with it Medicaid," explained assistance specialist June Moore. "Even if they got 50 cents, they qualified for Medicaid."

Everyone now will have to qualify for federal benefits to be eligible for state supplemental funds.

"These people will still be out in the cold," Workman said of those who qualified for state, but not federal benefits.

Legislative changes in the state supplemental plan in 2002 called for diverting money from cash payments to pay for other services for the developmentally disabled. That decision affected 95,000 of the 100,000 Washington residents on SSI -- a program that provides monthly income to people age 65 or older, or who are blind or disabled, and have limited income and financial resources. SSI covers people in these categories, including those who have never paid into Social Security.

Disabled people still will not receive state supplemental SSI payments.

The November payments to blind and aged SSI recipients will protect $3 billion in federal Medicaid funds the Social Security Administration threatened to withhold when it decided the state plan did not meet federal rules, DSHS officials say.

When the state requested permission to funnel money for developmentally disabled people through county agencies, its plan was initially approved by the Social Security Administration. But a year later, SSA reversed its decision, ruling that DSHS's plan did not comply with federal regulations, which require direct cash payments to SSI recipients.

"We've resolved the federal threat of withholding billions of dollars in Medicaid funds," said Roxie Schalliol, director of DSHS's division of employment and assistance programs. "These checks, totaling more than $28 million, will meet federal requirements that Washington maintain the level of spending it has in the past."

The $28 million is in addition to back payments DSHS has paid out over the last several months. An estimated $40 million will have been paid out by the end of the year.

When the Legislature convenes in January, DSHS will ask for more money and a course correction.

"DSHS will be forced to ask the state Legislature for a supplementary appropriation of approximately $28 million, as well as the Legislature's directions to use OSSP (Optional Supplemental Payment Program) funds to support some people with developmental disabilities," Schalliol said.