The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program was created to provide benefits for adults who are aged or unable to work due to disability, and there is a component that also provides monthly payments to a disabled child. The monthly benefit provides up to $674 per person in 2011. An estimated 1.2 million children are receiving SSI benefits, at an annual cost of about $10 billion, not including Medicaid expenses.
Upon scheduling the hearing on SSI for children, Chairman Geoff Davis (R-KY) reflected on a three-part news series which ran in The Boston Globe in November 2010. The articles highlighted the increases in children’s payments under the SSI program, identifying two areas of concern: a lack of program integrity efforts by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and allegations that psychotropic drugs may be improperly prescribed to children with certain mental and behavioral impairments (especially Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD) in order to improve their chances of collecting SSI disability payments.
The series prompted Chairman Davis and a bipartisan, bicameral group of members of Congress to request that the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) review trends in the rate of children receiving SSI benefits due to ADHD, depression, and other mental impairments; the role of medical evidence, such as the presence of medication, in SSA disability determinations; and the impact of SSA’s not completing continuing disability reviews on current recipients of SSI benefits. The final report is not yet available and will be released in early 2012. Chairman Geoff Davis (R-KY) noted, “… as currently constructed, the (SSI) program makes no effort to ensure that benefits are used to help children overcome their disabilities and lead productive lives. As a result, too many children on SSI drop out of school, experience poor employment outcomes, and continue receiving year after year of disability payments as adults. This hearing will review how the SSI program is currently coming up short and possible remedies.”
The speakers who provided testimony provided a wide range of responses, from concerns over statistics demonstrating abuse of the SSI program to pleas for the program and the critical support it provides. Exploration of this issue is of concern to recipients and health care providers for fear of what restrictions that could be placed on the program through Congressional action. For more on the testimony, click here: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/Calendar/EventSingle.aspx?EventID=265128
