Legislatively Speaking | Community Social Services Director Joe Scullin

Supplemental Security Income, SSI, is a Federal/State benefit program designed to help aged, blind, and disabled adults and children with very little or no income. In Pennsylvania, about 40,000 seniors, and about 300,000 individuals with a disability, including 67,000 disabled children, get SSI. The maximum  SSI benefit is about $670/month, of which the Commonwealth contributes about $27/month. $670/month represents about 70% of the Federal Poverty level for an individual.

With little notice, Pennsylvania cut its portion of the SSI benefit by $5, and the Governor’s proposed 2010-2011 budget continues that reduction. This is in addition to SSI recipients not receiving a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2010.

While a $5/month income decrease may not appear to be significant to some people, its impact on an individual with a total monthly income of $670 can be another matter. That $5/month can represent a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk,
a medical co-payment, barely the cost of a round trip Paratransit ride in Philadelphia, or a portion of a utility bill.

This benefit cut has been criticized in editorials in most of Pennsylvania’s major newspapers, and by most groups serving individuals with a disability, and their families. While there is general agreement that these are difficult economic times, we wonder if the price being paid by these needy individuals is fair or reasonable.