ArcaMax

Repeat After Me: 'SSI and Social Security Are Not the Same Thing!'

I can tell from my emails that it's time for me to trot out another version of my "SSI and Social Security Are Not the Same Thing" column. Despite my preaching over the years, I continue to get emails from readers getting Social Security benefits that say things like this: "My wife and I are getting SSI. And we would like to ask you some questions." Or this: "My SSI check is $2,140 per month. My wife's SSI check is $1,800. Can she get any of my SSI?"

Today I got an email from a woman who said that she and her sister were planning on moving in together. She said, "We are both getting SSI, and we were wondering if our new living arrangement would affect our benefits." After a couple more email exchanges, I learned that she meant to say that she and her sister were getting Social Security benefits. So then I was able to tell her that, unlike the SSI program, Social Security doesn't care who she lives with and her benefits won't change. There is a huge difference between SSI and Social Security, which I will use the rest of this column to explain.

Most people know what Social Security is. You work. You pay taxes. And then someday when you retire or become disabled, you start getting Social Security checks based on what you paid into the system. Or if you die, your widow, widower or minor children start getting monthly benefits -- again, based on what you paid into Social Security during your working years.

But it is obvious to me based on the reader mail I get that most people do not know what SSI is. It stands for Supplemental Security Income. It is a federal welfare program that pays a small monthly stipend to people who are 65 or older and very poor, or to people who are under 65 but disabled and very poor. How poor? Usually, they have to have a monthly income of less than about $1,000 per month to qualify for SSI payments.

Many people confuse SSI with Social Security for a variety of reasons. One is the name. Supplemental Security Income just sounds like some kind of supplemental Social Security benefit. It is NOT.

Another reason for the confusion is the fact that the Social Security Administration runs the SSI program for the federal government. But that is all they do. They manage the program. To repeat: SSI is not a Social Security benefit. And SSI payments are not paid for out of Social Security funds. The money for SSI comes out of the government's general operating funds. In fact, Social Security's trust funds are even reimbursed from the general funds for the costs of administering the SSI program.

And getting back to that name business. So many people think that SSI stands for Social Security Income. In other words, when my readers say, "I'm getting SSI," they think they are saying, "I'm getting Social Security income." But when I hear you say, "I'm getting SSI," or when a Social Security representative hears you say that, we think you are saying, "I'm getting Supplemental Security Income."

And it's not really just a matter of semantics. By phrasing a question using the wrong terminology, you are going to get a wrong answer.

Here is an example. Recently, a woman wrote to me and told me she was getting SSI and was planning to move from California to Texas. She asked if her SSI checks would change because of the move; I answered, telling her that her benefits would very likely change. Because SSI is a welfare benefit, the payment amount depends on your living arrangements (whether or not you own a home, rent, share expenses with others, etc.). Also, the payment rate can change from one state to another. For example, California adds a supplement to the federal benefit payment. When she moves from California to Texas, she is going to lose that extra California money. I told her that when she moved to Texas, there was a pretty good chance her SSI benefits would go down.

Well, she later wrote back to tell me that when she called the Social Security people and they checked their records, she learned that her payment rates would stay the same. And surprise, surprise -- that's because it turns out she was not getting SSI, as she told me, but instead she was getting Social Security benefits. And your Social Security check stays the same no matter where you live in the country.

Actually, I partly blame myself for giving her bad information. I am so used to having people incorrectly tell me they are getting SSI that I usually respond by saying something like, "I bet you meant to say you are getting Social Security. And here is the answer to your question assuming you are getting Social Security and not SSI." But I must have been lazy or rushed when I answered the "California-to-Texas lady," so I assumed she was getting SSI and later had to apologize.

But then sometimes just the opposite happens. I get emails from people who are actually getting SSI but they tell me they are getting Social Security, and we end up with more misinformation. Not long ago, a woman wrote to me to say her mother was getting Social Security and planned to move to Honduras. She asked if her mother could get her Social Security check sent to that Central American country. I initially told the daughter that her mother could move just about anywhere in the world and still get her Social Security checks. But after exchanging another email or two, I figured out her mother was actually getting SSI. As I said earlier, SSI is a welfare benefit. And we do not send welfare benefits overseas. So if the mother leaves the United States, her SSI checks will stop immediately.

So please, dear readers, repeat after me: Social Security is not SSI, and SSI is not Social Security! If you use the wrong terms when asking questions, you're going to get wrong answers.

I've got a little space left, and I want to share this story about the birth of the SSI program. Back in the 1970s, President Richard Nixon's administration thought it would be a good idea that, instead of 50 different state welfare programs as we had at the time, it would be better to have one national program with the same basic eligibility rules applying to everyone no matter where they lived. So, in 1972, they scrapped the 50 separate programs and created one national welfare program for the country. They decided to let the Social Security Administration run the program because it already had lots of experience paying monthly benefits to millions of Americans. But then, in my opinion, they made one huge mistake. They called the program Supplemental Security Income. And that name, coupled with the fact that the SSA ran the program, has led to a half-century of confusion between the two entirely separate programs.

If you have a Social Security question, Tom Margenau has two books with all the answers. One is called "Social Security -- Simple and Smart: 10 Easy-to-Understand Fact Sheets That Will Answer All Your Questions About Social Security." The other is "Social Security: 100 Myths and 100 Facts." You can find the books at Amazon.com or other book outlets. Or you can send him an email at thomas.margenau@comcast.net. To find out more about Tom Margenau and to read past columns and see features from other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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