The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-193) directs the Social Security Administration (SSA) to report annually to the President and to the Congress on the status of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. A required element of these reports is to provide projections of program recipients and costs through at least 25 years. This report is the fourteenth of such reports, and following are its major highlights and findings.
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The SSI program is a nationwide Federal assistance program administered by SSA that guarantees a minimum level of income for needy aged, blind, or disabled individuals. It acts as a safety net for individuals who have limited resources and little or no Social Security or other income.
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In January 2010, 7.5 million individuals received monthly Federal SSI payments averaging $476, up from 7.2 million recipients with an average payment of $474 in January 2009.
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Federal expenditures for cash payments under the SSI program during calendar year 2009 increased 9.2 percent to $45.9 billion, while the funds made available to administer the SSI program in fiscal year 2009 increased 17.4 percent to $3.4 billion. In 2008 the corresponding program and administrative expenditures were $42 billion and $2.9 billion, respectively.
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By 2034, the end of the 25-year projection period, the Federal SSI recipient population is estimated to reach 9.9 million. The projected growth in the SSI program over the 25-year period is largely due to the overall growth in the U.S. population, although the current economic recession is expected to temporarily generate additional growth beyond what might be expected from historical trends. The percentage of the population receiving SSI is projected to vary somewhat by age group, with the percentage for those age 65 or older projected to decline and the percentage for those under 65 projected to increase slightly.
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Expressed as a percentage of the total U.S. population, the number of Federal SSI recipients increased slightly from 2.32 percent in 2008 to 2.36 percent in 2009 and is projected to increase gradually to 2.59 percent of the population by 2034 due largely to the changing age distribution of the population.
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Federal expenditures for SSI payments in calendar year 2010 are estimated to increase by $2.1 billion to $48 billion, an increase of 4.5 percent from 2009 levels.
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In constant 2010 dollars, Federal expenditures for SSI payments are projected to increase to $59.9 billion in 2034, a real increase of 1 percent per year.
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Federal SSI expenditures expressed as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) were 0.291 percent of GDP in 2008. Due to the economic recession, expenditures as a percentage of GDP increased to 0.322 in 2009, and are projected to increase slightly to 0.325 percent of GDP in 2010, but decline thereafter to 0.247 percent of GDP by 2034.
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