Supplemental Security Income

Over eight million Americans, all of them at least age 65 or unable to work because of severe disabilities, rely on the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program for their survival.  NSCLC seeks to update the long neglected program which was designed for 1972, not 2011.

Improving SSI  SSI provides little more than bare survival. An SSI recipient cannot have more than $2,000 in available resources and, in most states, cannot have a monthly total income exceeding $694, an amount significantly below poverty level.

Refugee Eligibility NSCLC seeks to repeal time limits on SSI eligibility for humanitarian immigrants (primarily asylees and refugees). Benefits for 3,000 humanitariran immigrants were suspended on October 1, 2010.

• Refugee, Asylees and Others Need Our Support
  Contact Your Members of Congress Today! Senators and Representatives need to hear from advocates about the urgent need to address extending the Sept. 30 deadline for refugees and other humanitarian immigrants or they will lose their Supplemental Sec...



• Senate Bill Seeks to Solve Refugee Sept. 30 Deadline Problem
  Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY), Kirsten Gildebrand (D-NY) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) have submitted a bill today to preserve SSI for some 4,600 refugees, asylees and other humanitarian refugees. Read the Senate Refugee Bill.  



• Policy Issue Brief: SSI Modernization Improvements Long Overdue
  (7/18/11) Supplemental Security Income covers over 8 million Americans; all of them are over age 65 or unable to work because of disabilities. A basic problem is that the program is still desiigned for 1972, the year it was signed into law by President...



• SSI Transfer Penalty: Harsh Consequences Need Attention
  In a Policy Issue Brief entitled SSI Transfer Penalty: Harsh Consequences Need Attention, NSCLC calls for repeal of the penalty due to the hardship it causes for Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries. The Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 (Pub...



• Webinar: Due Process Protections in SSI
  In February 2011, NSCLC held a webinar on due process protections when appealing SSI non-disability determinations. The presentation for legal service attorneys details the due process protections available when filing Request for Reconsideration and R...



• What is Direct Express?
  DIRECT EXPRESS DEBIT CARDS Since 2008, people receiving Social Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits who do not have a bank account have had the option of receiving benefits in the form of a prepaid debit card instead of a paper ch...



• California Supreme Court Rules Bank Seize SSI Deposit to Pay for Overdrafts and Fees
  The California Supreme Court has ruled that a state statute exempting Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) funds directly deposited into a bank account from attachment does not prohibit a bank from seizing an incoming SSI deposit to r...



• CA Supreme Court Rules Bank May Seize SSI Deposit to Pay for Overdrafts and Fees
  The California Supreme Court has ruled that a state statute exempting Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) funds directly deposited into a bank account from attachment does not prohibit a bank from seizing an incoming SSI deposit t...



• Court Upholds Rehab Act Claim for Blind Participants in SSA Programs
  The decision is an important victory for the estimated 3,000,000 participants in Social Security programs who are blind or have low vision, the overwhelming majority of whom are over the age of 80. A district court in California has denied jurisdict...



• NSCLC Challenges SSA Policy on Alleged Probation Violation
  A lawsuit has been filed by NSCLC on behalf of a nationwide class of thousands of individuals, who have lost their Social Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, challenging the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) policy of suspen...