Nationwide, more than 100,000 people have been removed from SSI in the past year, according to data from the Social Security Administration (SSA).
The number of people claiming Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits dropped by 119,395 between May 2023, when 7,380,737 payments were made, and May 2024, when 7,261,342 people received disability checks.
Adults and children with disabilities, or who are blind, with little to no income are eligible to receive SSI. The majority of SSI claimants are those in this category, making up around 6.1 million of the 7.2 million on the SSA’s payroll for this type of benefit. The other 1.1 million are in the 65 and over category.
Across the two eligibility categories, more disabled or blind recipients were no longer collecting the benefit in 2024, with a total drop of 140,034, down from 6,281,068 in May 2023 to 6,141,034 in May 2024. The overall number of claimants in the 65 plus category rose from 1,099,669 to 1,120,308 – an increase of 20,639.
It isn’t immediately clear why the number of disabled or blind SSI recipients declined within the time period.
Some states saw more than 10,000 people no longer registered to receive SSI benefits. California, which has the highest number of people claiming across all 50 states, saw a drop of 16,573 SSI claims between May 2023 and 2024.
The majority of these were those who are considered blind or disabled, with the number of claimants dropping from 708,695 in this category to 690,351 – meaning more than 17,000 are no longer collecting disability benefits.
Texas had 14,587 less SSI claims than in May 2023, from 591,710 down to 577,123. Other population-dense states also saw drops in the number of claimants, with New York’s number of SSI claimants dropping from 568,777 to 559,222.
In other states, the numbers of people claiming SSI benefits stayed roughly the same. The amount of SSI recipients in North Dakota dropped by only 17 people, from 7,923 last year to 7,906 this year. All but one of these was a disabled or blind recipient.
Small changes were also reported in other states, including Rhode Island, where the number of beneficiaries from year-to-year fluctuated by around 300 people, from 30,317 in 2023 to 30,015 this May.
Last month, the SSA announced a major change to the way it makes decisions regarding claims for SSI and Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. The government agency said it would remove a number of obsolete or seldom performed jobs, including occupations like reptile farmer and railroad telegrapher, from a list used to determine whether an applicant for disability benefits can perform that job based on their abilities.
When they remove the hundreds of thousands of illegal residents from the SSI payroll, maybe then there will be enough left over for the ones who paid in all their lives for this.
Agreed. And at 51, I’ve applied for ssi back in April. I have several health conditions including pulmonary hypertension. I was a custodian at my local factory for 25 years until a decade ago. I don’t think I can do that kind of hard work anymore. This sucks trying to get ssi and ssdi.
Good luck in your quest to get the benefits. I would think with pulmonary hypertension and you have good Dr’s – you’ll receive it!
You need to get a lawyer. Otherwise they will keep denying you. The lawyer gets a big chunk of your back pay but that’s how it’s set up to be.
So, of all the (millions of) SSI recipients, only 119,395 died? With 3,394,001deaths in the US in 2023?? Bull crap!
Hmmmm…
“Reptile Farmer”.
Would that job description include Jill Biden, who tends to her Snake-husband Joe?
MAYBE learn the difference between SSI, and SSDI.
Adults and children with disabilities, or who are blind, with little to no income are eligible to receive SSI.
They receive SSDI because they are DISABLED.