Supplemental Security Income: SSA Needs a Uniform Standard for AssessingChildhood Disability. Statement for the Record by Cynthia M. Fagnoni, Director, Income Security Issues, Health, Education and Human Services Division

摘要

I am pleased to provide this statement for the record in which we discuss theSocial Security Administration's (SSA) implementation of the new eligibility criteria for childhood disability benefits under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. In 1997, almost 900,000 children younger than 18 received about $5 billion in SSI benefits. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-193), commonly referred to as welfare reform, made eligibility for childhood SSI benefits more restrictive. In February 1997, the Social Security Administration (SSA) published regulations to implement the new definition of disability for the SSI children's program set forth in the welfare reform law. Under the more restrictive standard, a child's impariment generally must result in marked limitations in two areas of functioning or an extreme limitation in one area.