What Is Supplemental Security Insurance?

There is much attention paid to Social Security Disability Insurance in the news, mostly because of recent alarming reports that the program could potentially run out of funds in the next twenty years. While the majority of people who are applying for benefits apply to Disability Insurance, there is also another program called Supplemental Security Income that is managed by the Social Security Administration. What are the key differences between these programs?

Supplemental Security Income is a much newer program than Social Security Disability Insurance (SDDI) and is actually funded from a different source as compared to SSDI. Where Social Security Disability Insurance is funded from the Social Security trust fund. Supplemental Security Insurance is funded by the US Treasury general funds, and it was created in 1974 to replace federal-state adult assistance programs that served the same purpose.

The Differences

The good news about Supplemental Security Income is that it is not in the same danger as Disability Insurance when it comes to running out of money. Disability Insurance is subject to the same problems that retirement Social Security is having - that is, there are fewer people in the workforce and more and more people drawing on the benefits that are gleaned from taxes. Supplemental Security Income is actually considered more of a federal welfare program than straight up Social Security.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) does not require that you have participated in the workforce for a certain number of years before applying for benefits. Generally speaking, SSI is meant for those who have always been disabled and were never able to participate in the workforce at full capacity due to long-standing and permanent medical conditions that result in disability. SSDI is meant for those who have participated in the workforce for a number of years and then sustained a debilitating injury or illness that then prevents them from participating in the workforce at the capacity they were able to previously.

Another key difference is the amount of money paid to the claimants in both of these programs. The money that applicants get out of Disability Insurance is directly proportional to the money they made before sustaining the injury, whereas Supplemental Security Insurance is more dependent on the type of injury and the amount of dependents that the applicant has.

Be sure that you do research on both of these programs and then make the decision to apply for the program that best suits your needs and medical background.