Assistant Professor, Dr. Callie Freitag, became interested in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) while working as a policy analyst in California. She explained that SSI is a cash assistance program in the form of monthly checks. In order to qualify for SSI, a person needs to be low-income and have low assets as well as either be over the age of 65 or be determined to be disabled. While she was a policy analyst, she began to hear stories from many people about how difficult it was to access SSI as well as how the benefit was not enough to meet basic needs for those who could access it. She explained that the income provided for those who can receive SSI is below the federal poverty level. As she described, “Hearing people’s stories got me interested because this is a very marginalized group of folks and then we have policy that traps them in poverty.”
These experiences led her to engage in research on SSI policy on both the process of actually getting SSI, including looking at the disability determination process, as well as the experiences of trying to make ends meet for those who receive SSI. She says the process of applying for SSI is challenging, especially for people who experience marginalization. “It’s a huge nightmare and there’s all these rules that are so granular [that] people need advocates or lawyers to navigate,” she said.
Dr. Freitag has recently investigated the impacts of age-based disability determination rules that affect eligibility for SSI. Her findings indicate that when the disability rules relax at specific ages, like age 50 and 55, significantly more people start receiving SSI. This is largely because regulations governing who is determined “disabled” incorporate a social expectation that younger adults should be able to find new work in the formal economy, even if they have severe and long-lasting impairments or disability that limit their ability to work.
Additionally, Callie’s research reveals that about two-thirds of people who are able to access SSI beginning at age 45 have spent at least five years out of the workforce. Before accessing SSI, many people experienced homelessness and severe economic hardship. She said of this, “they’re experiencing extreme suffering, like homelessness, prior to getting benefits.”
To address these issues, Dr. Freitag suggests that age requirements to access SSI for people with disabilities be relaxed. As she said, “my main takeaways for the public are that SSI benefits for disability are really hard to get and there’s pent up demand for them. Basically, the age thresholds appear too high.” She said she views her research as foundational for setting the table for policy conversations at the national level. She described that policy makers will likely have concerns that expanding disability eligibility at younger ages could result in people receiving benefits who might not need them, but findings indicate that the current policy is causing extreme financial hardship. She summarized, “Policy makers should carefully weigh which hazard they are more willing to live with.”