Nationwide Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Social Security Insurance (SSI) Benefits Services
Nationwide Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Benefits Services
Allsup is a commercial site, so use it to understand how Social Security disability benefits work but call a Peer Navigator to help without charge. Here are some other interesting articles about SSI and transitioning from youth to adult services.
Youth who receive benefits from the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, the largest federal program providing cash payments to low-income youth with severe disabilities and their families, face notable challenges transitioning to adulthood. Six articles in the September issue of the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, by researchers from Mathematica Policy Research, TransCen Inc., and the Social Security Administration, explore the nature of these challenges and related policy responses.
Articles in the issue include:
"A Life-Cycle Perspective on the Transition to Adulthood Among Children Receiving Supplemental Security Income Payments." Paul S. Davies, Kalman Rupp, and David Wittenburg review the challenges youth with severe disabilities face in transitioning to adulthood, using a life-cycle framework.
"Family Caregiving and Employment Among Parents of Children with Disabilities on SSI." Kalman Rupp and Steve Ressler focus on family caregiving and employment among parents of child SSI recipients. Their paper illustrates how several youth and family characteristics might affect parental caregiving and employment decisions. They find that child SSI recipients who have severe disabilities and/or live in single-parent families face major challenges that could affect the long-term human capital development of children and put excessive burdens on parents’ time.
"Unmet Health Care Needs and Medical Out-of-Pocket Expenses of SSI Children." Anne DeCesaro and Jeffrey Hemmeter examine the relationship between Medicaid and the unmet health care needs and medical out-of-pocket expenses of child SSI recipients. They find that most child SSI recipients do not have unmet medical needs, in large part because of the availability of Medicaid. However, a concern is that some youth might lose their Medicaid eligibility if they leave SSI as adults. This issue is an especially important consideration in tracking the long-term health outcomes of former child SSI recipients, as well as in designing interventions to serve their long-term needs.
"Changing Circumstances: Experiences of Child SSI Recipients Before and After Their Age-18 Redetermination for Adult Benefits." Jeffrey Hemmeter, Jacqueline Kauff, and David Wittenburg focus more specifically on the outcomes of child SSI recipients nearing age 18 to illustrate the variations in transition outcomes across impairment groups. They find that nonhealth factors, particularly education, employment, and social indicators, play an important role in the probability of a child SSI recipient being on adult SSI after age 18. A major concern is that some youth no longer on SSI after age 18, particularly those with mental disorders other than mental retardation, might not have been sufficiently prepared for life without SSI.
"The Social Security Administration's Youth Transition Demonstration Projects." Thomas Fraker and Anu Rangarajan provide an overview of the Social Security Administration’s Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD) planned intervention and evaluation activities.
"Providing Supports to Youth with Disabilities Transitioning to Adulthood: Case Descriptions from the Youth Transition Demonstration." Richard G. Luecking and David Wittenburg provide a detailed review of how the intervention components were developed for YTD and present case descriptions of how three (nonrandomly selected) youth have used these services successfully to move into employment. These examples supplement the more quantitative analyses in this volume by providing a personal perspective of the challenges these youth face and describing how well-coordinated interventions might produce positive outcomes.
