[NFBSATX] article of interest to SSI recipients

[Wendy Walker]

For anybody receiving SSI, an article was emailed to me on one of my
NFB email lists that I will paste below my signature for you to read.

Wendy Walker
President
San Antonio Chapter


https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/02/senate-bill-seeks-to-update-supplemental-security-income-asset-rules.html


"Supplemental Security Income provides monthly federal benefits for
the disabled, blind and elderly. Yet many of the program’s
beneficiaries still live below the poverty level.

"The program comes with strict rules, including the amount of assets
people who live on these benefits can have set aside in case of an
emergency.

"Now, two Ohio senators from both sides of the aisle, Democratic Sen.
Sherrod Brown and Republican Sen. Rob Portman, have proposed a bill
that would raise those caps.

" Currently, individuals getting SSI are limited to $2,000 in assets;
for married couples it’s $3,000. The bill seeks to amend those caps,
which have not been changed since 1989, to $10,000 and $20,000,
respectively. The change would also help eliminate the marriage
penalty for today’s beneficiaries, since the current asset limit for
couples is not twice that for a single person.

"The program’s limits on assets such as savings make it “difficult for
SSI beneficiaries and their families to achieve any measure of
economic security,” a report from the J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Policy
Center states.

"“It doesn’t make sense for SSI’s rules to punish Americans for saving
for emergencies,” Brown said in a statement. “Our bipartisan bill
would update the outdated rules for the first time in decades and
allow beneficiaries to save for emergencies without putting the
benefits they rely on to live at risk.”

"The bill would also adjust thresholds annually for inflation based on
Consumer Price Index data, much like Social Security benefits.

"The proposal follows a more expansive proposal put forth by Brown
last year titled the SSI Restoration Act. That bill included changes
that would have lifted the program’s income restrictions and brought
monthly benefits to 100% of the federal poverty level and indexed them
to inflation."