A Special Thank You To Joseph Shapiro and The Team at NPR for Sounding the Alarm Bells: Social Security Insurance Needs Reform!

The words below are ripped entirely from Shapiro's reporting on Social Security Insurance. AVRSP is grateful for journalists who take the time to educate themselves and their readers on policy that directly impacts Americans.

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Ari Ne’eman, an assistant professor at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard who researches disability income programs, says: “If you lose access to SSI, you lose access to the Medicaid services that keep you alive and thriving in the community. It’s a question of life and death.”

#DisabilityAwareness

People with significant disabilities weren’t expected to work

SSI was created in 1972 to provide monthly benefit checks for millions of impoverished disabled and elderly Americans. In 2024, the monthly benefit is capped at $943 for one person and $1,415 for a couple. In addition, most who are eligible for SSI then qualify for health insurance through state Medicaid programs.

Supplemental Security Income rules can limit the people the program is meant to help

Today, SSI is a key benefit to 7.5 million people but fewer than 10% are employed.

The rules make it hard to take even a part-time job. One rule says you can own only $2,000 in assets — like bank savings or property. That limit hasn’t changed since 1989. For a couple, the asset limit is $3,000, creating a “marriage penalty” that forces many on SSI to avoid marriage or to try to hide it when they marry.

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Dive Deeper

Where do the Presidential hopeful's stand on Social Security and Medicare?

Calls for Reform by the Center for American Progress.

Calls for Reform by the Brookings Institute

Calls for Reform by the Urban Institute

Congressional Calls for Reform