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Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Turns Forty

Last October 30, the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program celebrated its 40th anniversary.

SSI is created and signed into law in 1972 by President Richard Nixon. The program is designed to provide benefits to both adults and children who are suffering from disabling conditions and have limited income and resources. The SSI likewise provides benefits to people who are 65 years of age and older, and who meet the program’s set financial limits.

Consequently, the program plays a very significant role in reducing poverty and helping those people in need.

Incidentally, during the legislation of the said program, President Nixon noted that the program’s beneficiaries were subject to great inequities and significant red tape inherent in the current system of different state programs with various benefits eligibility standards and rules.

Subsequently, upon the implementation of the federal benefits, it was found out that the quality of life of the disabled and aged individuals significantly improved after they were transferred from former state programs to SSI.

Initially, people with disabling conditions usually live in large state-managed institution wherein patients were isolated from their families and communities. However, as time passed by, Americans’ attitude regarding the same have changed—shifting away from institutional care provider for the disabled to family and community-based care. 

Meanwhile, a Los Angeles social security disability firm likewise agrees that from the advent of the SSI, lifestyles of the disabled and aged individuals began to change in a nice and ideal way, since it has been a witness to the previous changes. Moreover, the firm also congratulates the program for its 40 long years of providing helpful service to the entire nation.