Supplemental Security Income (SSI): A Fact Sheet

Publication Date: April 1998

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Social conditions

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Abstract:

The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, Title XVI of the Social Security Act, was implemented in 1974 to assure a minimum cash income to all aged, blind, or disabled persons with limited resources (the countable resource limit is $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple).1 The aged are defined as persons 65 years and older. The blind are individuals with visual acuity of 20/200 or less with the use of a correcting lens in the person’s better eye, or those with tunnel vision of 20 degrees or less. Disabled individuals are those unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of a medically determined physical or mental impairment expected to result in death or that has lasted, or can be expected to last, for a continuous period of at least 12 months. Pursuant to P.L. 104-193, signed into law on August 22, 1996, a child under age 18 may qualify as disabled if he or she has an impairment that results in “marked and severe” functional limitations.