SSI Multirecipient Househo

and the Effect of a Maximu

Family Federal Benefit Rat

Structure

Melissa Schaible

Office of the Chief Actuary

The Social Security Administration
The Motivation Behind this Note

We have received several multirecipiency proposal requests decided that it would be beneficial to have a written note.
Background

• The SSI program was established by Congress in 1972• SSI stands for “Supplemental Security Income”• Needs-based program administered by the Social Security Administ

• Replacement for former Federal-State programs providing public as

aged, blind, and disabled

• The SSI program added a new assistance category-disabled children 

age of 18

• SSI program is funded from general revenues• SSI program intended to provide a uniform Federal income floor for 

disabled individuals

• At inception child recipients 4.3% • As of December 2017 child recipients 16.9%
0

1,0002,0003,0004,0005,0006,0007,0008,000

1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014

Thousands of recipients in current-payment status

Blind or Disabled SSI Recipients with Federal Payments, December 

2017

Number of disabled recipients Children as a percentage of all disabled recipients

Source: 2018 SSI Annual Report Tables IV.B6 and IV.B7
Distribution by Age Band

Table 1: Individuals due a Federal SSI payment in July 

2018a, by age group and SSI eligibility category

Total recipients

Blind or Disabled 

recipients

Age group Number Percent Number Percent

Under 18 1,148,938 14.47% 1,148,938 16.79%18 to 64 4,720,667 59.45% 4,720,667 68.99%65 and older 2,070,469 26.08% 972,574 14.21%Total 7,940,074 100.00% 6,842,179 100.00%

a Based on June 2018 administrative data.
Couple and individual FBR

• SSI provides a maximum Federal monthly payment called 

(Federal Benefit Rate) that is reduced dollar-for-dollar by t

individual’s countable income (resources)

• The eligible couple FBR is 1.5 times the individual FBR• There is no provision for reducing the payments of non-co

recipients who live with other SSI recipients (non-couple multirecipients)
Proposals

• Since the mid-1990s there have been various proposals to 

total maximum Federal SSI payment available to families ohouseholds
Reason for proposals and interest 

non-couple multirecipients

• Perceived inequality of payments between married couple

receive SSI payments and non-couple multirecipients whopayments are not subject to any “economies of scale” red

• Potential for reducing Federal expenditures by applying an 

“economies of scale” reduction to the Federal SSI paymennon-couple recipients

• According to our study about 24% of SSI recipients under 

with other eligible family members
Other Studies

• “SSI Recipients in Multirecipient Households, March 1994

Kennedy, Scott, and Brooks –

• address matching technique on a representative 5% sample

• Finding was that 8.5% of SSI recipients in March 1994 lived with anothe

who was not a spouse

• “SSI Recipients in Households and Families with Multiple R

Prevalence and Poverty Outcomes” by Koenig and Rupp –

• Based on the SIPP (Survey of Income Program and Participation

small sample (about 5%) survey done by the Census Bureau

• In 1998 21% of all SSI recipients lived in a household with another non-s

recipient, with the prevalence being 38% for children under the age of 1
National Commission on Childhood Di

• The NCCD was established by Congress in the Social Security In

and Program Improvements Act of 1994

• Goal to review the definition of childhood disability in the SSI 

• Is the present definition of disability appropriate and what would be t

or disadvantages of an alternative definition?

• Alternatives for meeting high medical costs for families with children 

serious impairments

• Feasibility of providing benefits to children through noncash means, e

debit cards, and electronic benefit transfer systems

• Methods that SSA could use to increase the provision of social service

and vocational instruction needed to promote the ability to engage in gainful activity

• The effects of the SSI program on children and their families
NCCD report to Congress

• SSI is not designed to provide a person living alone with a

equal to the federal poverty level

• The report states that Federal poverty guidelines take acc

economies of scale, however SSI payments do not

• SSI payments to families can rise significantly above federal pov

as the number of eligible family members increases
Sliding Scale NCCD Proposal

• NCCD(National Commission on Childhood Disability) Octo

report to Congress laid out a sliding-scale payment structu

• Formula for maximum monthly combined Federal payment that 

could receive collectively for its eligible children

• Formula based on a poverty scale developed by the National Re

• FBR is the Federal Benefit Rate

[ܲ − ଻.଴ ܰ+ܲ ] ∗ ܴܤܨ = ௉,ேܴܤܨܤܯܱܥ •

N is the number of eligible childrenP is zero if neither parent is eligible and 1 if one OR both parents a
Example calculation of sliding scale FB

• In the simpler case in which neither parent is eligible

ܴܤܨܤܯܱܥ •

଻.଴ܰ ∗ ܴܤܨ = ே

• FBR = $750 (the 2018 FBR) and N = 3• The maximum combined family FBR is $750 ∗ 3଴.଻ = $1,618 • First child’s FBR is the maximum of $750

• Second child’s FBR is $750 ∗ 2଴.଻ − $750 = $468 ($282 reduction)

• Third child’s FBR is $750 ∗ 3଴.଻ − $750 ∗ 2଴.଻ = $400 ($350 reduction)

• $750 + $468 + $400 = $1,618 the total family maximum

• The total family FBR under current law would be $2,250 = 3 * 

• This proposal would result in a $632 (= $2,250 - $1,618) reduc

total family maximum
Equal FBR Calculation

• Same formula to compute the family maximum with 4 elig

children and no eligible parents

଻.଴ܰ ∗ ܴܤܨ = ௉,ேܴܤܨܤܯܱܥ •

• The maximum combined family FBR is $750 ∗ 4଴.଻ = $1,980

• Each child’s FBR would be one-fourth of the total, $495 (= $1,98

• The total family FBR under current law would be $3,000 = 

• This proposal would result in a $1,020 (= $3,000 - $1,980) reduc

maximum family FBR ($255 per child)
Limitations and Assumptions

Limitations• Assembled family units cannot account for children residing without the p

other family members who are head of household (e.g., grandparents) unfamily member is a legal guardian

• Also cannot account for children age 18 or older residing with the family

Assumptions• Included in our analysis are children designated as living with their parent

living with their parents in a household in which the parent is not head of 

• Children not living with their parents were assumed to be living outside o• The multirecipient family was defined to include-

• The eligible child• Any parent(s) with whom the child was living, and• Any eligible children under age 18 who were living with the same parent(s) as th

• A parent is considered to be a natural, adoptive, step-parent or a legal guardian
Living Arrangements

• A=Living in own household• B=Living in the household of another and not paying share 

household expenses

• C=Living in parental household• D=Institutionalized (Medicaid pays over 50% of cost of car
Living Arrangements

For SSI purposes, • the FBR is different for different living arrangementsFor example, • Living arrangement B cases are often subject to a reductio

FBR in cases in which both food and shelter are provided

• Living arrangement D cases have an FBR equal to $30 For the purposes of this study note,• We focus mainly on living arrangement B and C cases. Th

arrangement is used in the PARENT_MATCH_KEY that will later in these slides
Development of Family Units

• Used information on the Supplemental Security Record (S• SSR links

• Cohabiting married couple in which both members receive SSI• Child to parents • Not child to other children

• The SSR does contain information on the number of eligib

ineligible children in the family but not reliable

• No parent to child deeming or deemed amount is zero

• The term “deeming” identifies the process of considering another perso

resources to be available for meeting an SSI claimant’s (or recipient’s) bfood and shelter
Methodology

• June 2018 Administrative Extract

• SSI recipients• Spouses of adult recipients• Deemors• In a nutshell, everyone who has ever applied for SSI and their de

• 4 Steps
Assembling the Family Units

• Step 1-

• 2 files created

• File of eligible individuals• File of parents-MFT (Master File Type) of ‘XM’ or ‘XF’

• Several indicator variables to determine eligible child status and parent sta

• Also, determined whose TOA (Type of Action) had been updated prema

• Our program was written to take the CSTOA (COMP-STAT-TOA) (if there is o

effective date

• The effective date could be later than June 2018
Assembling the Family Units

• Step 2-Fixing the prematurely updated TOA 

• Look back at the previous 3 months- March, April, and May 201

• Files are updated often enough that 3 months is sufficient

• Replace prematurely updated TOA• Creation of the PARENT_MATCH_KEY 

• HUN (Housed Under Number)• Concatenation of HUN, 2nd position of the TOA, LIVF(Living Arrangemen
Assembling the Family Units

• Step3-

• Matching children to their parents by merging the files based on 

PARENT_MATCH_KEY

• Counting number of parents within the PARENT_MATCH_KEY fo

of assigning the parent count to each child’s record
Assembling the Family Units

• Step 4-

• Assembling family units by using the FAMILY_MATCH_KEY

• Concatenation of the first parent’s SSN, the second parent’s SSN (if ther

the TOA

• Ranking of the children in the family

• Important for sliding scale FBR scenario• Ranked by date of first eligibility and then birthdate within date of first e
Family data

• For each family unit we determined-

• The number of parents• The number of eligible parents• The total number of eligible children in the family, and• The relative position of each child in the family, ordering by date 

eligibility and date of birth within eligibility
Distribution of Children by Living Arrang

living arrangement A and B cases

Living arrangement

Number of 

children

All SSI 

children

Own household........................................... 151,594 13.42Household of another, which includes:

Eligible parent(s) only............................... 759 0.07Eligible sibling(s) only............................... 1,546 0.1

4

Eligible sibling(s) and parent(s)................ 140 0.01

Subtotal, with other eligible individuals.. 2,445 0.22

No other SSI eligible individuals............... 17,188 1.52Subtotal, household of another................. 19,633 1.74
Distribution of Children by Living Arrang

living arrangement C and D cases

Living arrangement

Number of 

children

All SSI 

children

Parents' household, which includes:

Eligible parent(s) only............................... 73,118 6.4

7

Eligible sibling(s) only............................... 175,557 15.54

Eligible sibling(s) and parent(s)................. 29,229 2.59

Subtotal, with other eligible individuals.. 277,904 24.60

No other SSI eligible individuals............... 668,660 59.19Subtotal, parent's household...................... 946,564 83.79

Institutionalizeda 11,903 1.05

Unknown b 3 0.00

Total, all living arrangements:

1,129,694 100.00
Number of eligible children within the SS

Federal SSI family units with children by number of 

parents in family and parent eligibility status 1 2 3 4 5 or more T

Living with other non-parent individuals 19,236 0 0 0 0 One parent in family unit

Parent eligible for federal SSI 55,679 7,997 1,254 240 55 Parent ineligible for federal SSI 535,881 55,073 6,313 792 155 5

Total 591,560 63,070 7,567 1,032 210 6

Two parents in family unit

One parent eligible for federal SSI 15,614 2,577 439 91 23 Both parents eligible for federal SSI 2,584 497 92 28 4 Neither parent eligible for federal SSI 149,967 17,711 2,296 303 96 1

Total 168,165 20,785 2,827 422 123 1

Total federal SSI family units

One parent eligible for federal SSI 71,293 10,574 1,693 331 78 

Two parents eligible for federal SSI 2,584 497 92 28 4 No parent eligible for federal SSI 705,084 72,784 8,609 1,095 251 7

Total 778,961 83,855 10,394 1,454 333 8

Most families are single parent with p

ineligible
Most families no eligible parents

0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

1 2 3 4 5 or more

Percent of Families 

Numbers of eligible children in the family

Percent of families with eligible parents, distributed by the number of eligible children in 

family, July 2018
Most SSI multirecipient families just 

Mom

0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

1 2 3 4 5 or mor

Percent of Families

Total number of eligible and ineligible children in the family

Parental configuration of families with SSI eligible children, distributed by the total number of 

(eligible and ineligible) in the same family, July 2018
Average benefit per child increases in 

with more children (current law

Average Federal benefit due per child living with their parent(s) in July 20

Total SSI eligible children in e

1

2

3

4 

Federal Amount dueParents' Household $649.44 $678.17 $697.35 $709Household of Another $463.58 $475.63 $470.54 $500Parents' Household and Household of Another $640.57 $676.34 $696.19 $709Percent of full SSI Federal Benefit RateParents' Household 88.60% 92.52% 95.14% 96.8Household of Another 63.24% 64.89% 64.19% 68.2Parents' Household and Household of Another 87.39% 92.27% 94.98% 96.7
Time Series Distribution of Family Unit

Number of eligible children Percentage distribu

July 1 2 3 4 5 or more 1 2 3 4 

2011 811,445 96,723 12,973 1,995 467 87.9% 10.5% 1.4% 0.2% 2012 839,645 99,056 13,219 2,021 466 88.0% 10.4% 1.4% 0.2% 2013 850,526 99,922 13,300 1,954 470 88.0% 10.3% 1.4% 0.2% 2014 848,229 99,040 12,878 1,883 449 88.1% 10.3% 1.3% 0.2% 2015 822,801 95,212 12,039 1,733 401 88.3% 10.2% 1.3% 0.2% 2016 801,010 90,024 11,304 1,598 365 88.6% 10.0% 1.3% 0.2% 2017 783,790 86,371 10,654 1,540 346 88.8% 9.8% 1.2% 0.2% 2018 759,725 83,809 10,394 1,454 333 88.8% 9.8% 1.2% 0.2% 
Scenarios and source of request

• This was done to satisfy a proposal to be included in the P

fiscal year 2019 budget submission

• Sliding scale and equal FBR scenarios• Not currently implemented
Savings Under Equal FBR Proposal

• Under current law projected total outlays of about $108 b

over the 10 year period 2019-2028

• The savings over 10 years for this proposal was $8-$9 billi

• 8.1% decrease in outlays

• The number of recipients in current pay status would decr

about 0.42%

• The benefit of about 25% of recipients would be affected
Large Payment for 10 child family

• Using the June 2018 files, we found one extreme case 

• Family with 10 eligible children and two eligible parents • Whole family receiving $7,500 per month in SSI

(ܲ − ଻.଴ ܰ+ܲ ) ∗ $750 = ܴܤܨܤܯܱܥ •

• N=10, P=1 • COMBFBR = $3,268• Less than half what they are currently getting• Annual savings of about $51,000
References to other studies

• Kennedy, Lenna D., Charles G. Scott, and Alfreda M. Brook

Recipients in Multirecipient Households, March 1994.” SoBulletin 58, 3 (1995): 49-54

• https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v58n3/v58n3p49.pdf

• Koenig, Melissa, and Kalman Rupp. “SSI Recipients in Hou

Families with Multiple Recipients: Prevalence and Poverty Outcomes.” Social Security Bulletin 65, 2 (2003/2004).

• https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v65n2/v65n2p14.html
Reference to NCCD Report to Congress

• https://www.ssa.gov/history/reports/SSI/ChildhoodDisabilityRepor