Children Must Meet Strict Criteria to Qualify for and Keep Benefits SSI benefits provide some of America’s most vulnerable families a stable source of income, reducing their insecurity and improving their children’s lives. Though many parents of children receiving SSI work, working fewer hours - or even leaving the workforce - can sometimes be the best decision for families’ health and well-being, particularly if a child’s care needs are high and a parent’s job prospects and earnings potential are low. Caring for a child with a disability requires significant time and energy, requiring parents to take their children to appointments with doctors and therapists, attend meetings at school, meet intensive daily needs, and cope with all-too-common medical emergencies and illnesses. SSI benefits also allow parents to provide the care their children need.
They also pay for a broad range of disability-related expenses, many of which are not offered by schools or covered by insurance - things like specialized therapies, medically prescribed diets, diapers for older children, and home modifications for accessibility. SSI benefits help families pay rent and put food on the table, helping to maintain a stable home environment. Many children with disabilities also receive essential support through Medicaid and special education - but these services, while critical, cannot substitute for income support.
Children’s eligibility is periodically reviewed - and many children lose eligibility after their conditions improve.įor those who qualify, SSI benefits help families meet their children’s needs and make ends meet. To qualify for SSI, a child must have a very serious condition that is backed up by medical evidence.
Indeed, just 1.7 percent of all children receive SSI benefits. Though 11 million American children have special health care needs, few meet SSI’s strict eligibility standards - either because their disabling conditions aren’t severe enough or because their families’ income and savings exceed the program’s low limits. In all, 1.2 million children with disabilities receive SSI benefits, averaging $650 a month. Benefits particularly reduce deep poverty, lifting nearly 200,000 children with disabilities above 50 percent of the poverty line. SSI benefits lift half of otherwise-poor child beneficiaries out of poverty. Without SSI, many more children with disabilities would be in poverty.Without SSI, many more children with disabilities would be in poverty. SSI cuts could come on top of the $839 billion Medicaid cut in the House-passed bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which threatens crucial health care services for children with disabilities - including those that help them succeed in school. That proposal would have eliminated income support for children through SSI and included vague promises to use some of the savings for “services” for these families. House Republicans are reportedly considering substantial entitlement cuts in their budget resolution and in budget legislation later this year, potentially including cuts to SSI for children, which was targeted in the “Better Way” plan that House Republicans put forward last year. The modest income that SSI provides doesn’t solve every problem these families face, but it reduces their struggles and helps provide the highly individualized supports their children may need.ĭespite the vital support SSI provides low-income children with disabilities and their families, the program could face cuts this year. Their vulnerable families face higher costs, more demands on their time, and more insecurity than families not caring for a child with a disability. These children live with conditions such as Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism, intellectual disability, and blindness. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is the only source of federal income support targeted to families caring for children with disabilities, and it reaches only the lowest-income and most severely impaired children.