Supplemental Security Income (SSI): Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
By: Laurel Beedon, AARP Public Policy Institute; Charles Ford, AARP Public Policy Institute; | February 1, 2000
The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program established a system of income assistance for aged, blind, and disabled individuals through a federally unified program. The system was designed so that the federal government provided a base benefit to all recipients and each state could supplement that amount in response to the specific needs of its population. Since 1974, when benefits began, SSI has grown and evolved. This data digest describes the program from 1974 through 1999 -- its administration, its financing, its recipient population, benefit levels and distribution, and it includes a brief review of the Social Security Administration actuaries' long-term SSI projections.
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Data Digest (PDF)
