Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and the “Spousal Deeming” Marriage Penalty

Posted: August 22, 2022
Updated: June 12, 2024

What is SSI?

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a federal program administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA) for disabled people, blind people, and older adults who have little to no income and assets. Recipients younger than 65 must have a qualifying disability. SSI provides a modest monthly stipend, also known as cash benefits, and in most states SSI recipients receive Medicaid. As of December 2023, there are approximately 7.4 million SSI recipients, most of whom have a qualifying disability.

Whether an individual is eligible for SSI and their monthly stipend depend on their income and assets. People with more income receive less in cash benefits, and having a certain amount in income or assets makes you completely ineligible for SSI. In 2024 the maximum monthly stipend for SSI is $943 for an individual and $1,415 for a married couple. Therefore, to be eligible for SSI, an individual’s countable monthly income cannot exceed $943 and a married couple’s combined countable monthly income cannot exceed $1,415. An individual also cannot have over $2,000 in assets and a married couple cannot have over $3,000 in assets. These asset limits have not been changed in 35 years.

In most states, SSI recipients are also eligible for Medicaid, which covers vital services such as Personal Care Attendants (PCAs), Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), certain durable medical equipment (DME), extended hospital stays, and more. Many people with significant disabilities must have Medicaid to live in the community with services and supports instead of in institutional settings.

What happens if an SSI recipient marries a person who is not receiving SSI?

SSI recipients can lose their cash benefits and Medicaid if they marry a person with even a modest income or level of assets. This is because SSA counts part of the spouse’s income and assets as belonging to the SSI recipient. For many SSI recipients, this means that they are then considered or “deemed” to have income or assets that are too high for SSI or Medicaid. This counting is called “spousal deeming.”

How does “spousal deeming” affect the cash benefit of an SSI recipient who marries a person who is not receiving SSI?

When an SSI recipient marries a person who does not receive SSI, a portion of the non-SSI spouse’s gross income is counted by the SSA and can cause the SSI spouse’s cash benefit to go lower. Under 2024 benefit levels, and assuming the SSI spouse has no non-SSI income, the reductions begin once the non-SSI spouse earns about $1,030 in gross income per month. Here are some examples of what happens under the current rules when the SSI spouse has no non-SSI income:

• If the non-SSI spouse earns $1,200 per month, about the earnings of a full-time worker at the federal minimum wage ($7.25/hour), then the SSI spouse’s stipend goes from $943 to $857.50 – a 9 percent cut.
• If the non-SSI spouse earns $2,400 per month, about half of what the median U.S. worker earns, then the SSI spouse’s stipend goes from $943 to $257.50 – a 73 percent cut.
• If the non-SSI spouse earns $2,900 per month, then the SSI spouse’s stipend goes from $943 to $7.50 – a 99 percent cut.
• If the non-SSI spouse earns $2,950 per month – $35,400 a year – then the stipend goes down to $0, the SSI spouse is deemed to have too much income and the SSI spouse loses eligibility for SSI.
• Note: The final numbers may be different in some states where there is a state supplement to the federal stipend. And there are additional reductions if the SSI recipient also has income.

How does “spousal deeming” affect access to Medicaid?

If the SSI spouse’s stipend goes to $0 due to “spousal deeming,” then they no longer qualify for SSI. Losing SSI can mean losing Medicaid unless the SSI spouse can qualify for Medicaid another way.

“Spousal deeming” also applies to assets. If the combined countable assets of the couple exceeds $3,000, then the SSI spouse no longer qualifies for SSI and can lose Medicaid. With such a low asset limit, marrying someone with just $3,500 in savings could cost someone their SSI stipend and Medicaid.

Why is “spousal deeming” unfair to people with disabilities?

Our society has recognized that individuals have a fundamental right to marry a person of their choice. But spousal deeming and other marriage penalties enforced by SSA mean that people who receive SSI do not have this same freedom. Many SSI recipients cannot survive without their benefits:

• Our country has historically organized much of its systems for the delivery of medical care and support services to disabled people through Medicaid, which means that many people with significant disabilities cannot live without Medicaid. They simply cannot receive the care or services they need any other way.
• Many people receiving SSI do not qualify for Medicare.
• SSI asset limits have not changed for 35 years, but the cost of living has continued to increase, making these limits harsher and harsher over time.
• People with disabilities often have significant disability-related expenses that can make their cost of living higher than that of their non-disabled peers.
• People with disabilities have significantly lower marriage rates and higher divorce rates than people without disabilities. The overall first-marriage rate for people ages 18 to 49 in the United States is 24.4 per 1,000 for people with disabilities and 48.9 for people without disabilities. Additionally, between 2009 and 2018, nearly 1.1 million Americans with disabilities got divorced, while only 593,000 got married. In the same period, 1.5 million Americans without disabilities got divorced, while 5.2 million got married. Spousal deeming no doubt contributes to this disparity, as those with disabilities are not incentivized to marry when it would result in significant losses.
• People under the age of 65 who receive SSI are blind or have a disability that prevents them from engaging in “substantial gainful activity.” This means that SSI recipients generally cannot earn enough money to make up for the stipends and health benefits they lose if they marry.
• Many people cannot afford the extensive healthcare and support costs associated with significant disability.

Is there any way to change the rules to give disabled people and their partners marriage equality?

Several bills have been introduced which would limit the harm caused by spousal deeming.

H.R.6640 – Marriage Equality for Disabled Adults Act would

• Allow DAC recipients to marry without losing benefits
• Eliminate penalties for SSI recipients who marry DAC recipients
• End the “holding out” rule for all SSI recipients

S.2767 & H.R.5408 – SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act would

• Eliminate 25% asset penalty for married people receiving SSI.
• Increase SSI asset limits
  • $10,000 if unmarried
  • $20,000 if married

H.R. 7055 –  Eliminating the Marriage Penalty in SSI Act (EMPSA) would

• Eliminate 25% income and asset penalties and spousal deeming of income and assets for people diagnosed with an intellectual or developmental disability receiving SSI

H.R.7138- Supplemental Security Income Restoration Act of 2024 would

• Eliminate 25% asset penalty for married people receiving SSI
• Increase SSI asset limits
  • $10,000 if unmarried
  • $20,000 if married
• Eliminate 25% stipend penalty and spousal deeming of income
• End the “holding out” rule for SSI
• End consideration of in-kind support & maintenance

The SSA can itself change the “spousal deeming” rules for SSI recipients without Congress doing anything. The statute says that a portion of the spousal income must be counted, except where the SSA finds that deeming is “inequitable under the circumstances.” Under this rule, the SSA could count less of the income received by the non-SSI spouse by first deducting a living allowance. This is what the SSA does for parents who do not receive SSI but live with a child who receives SSI.

How would a living allowance deduction help some SSI recipients marry without losing their stipend or having it cut so much?

If SSA subtracted a living allowance from the non-SSI spouse’s gross income before deeming, then less of the non-SSI spouse’s income would be considered in calculating the SSI spouse’s stipend.

The living allowance could be based on the monthly federal benefit rate (in 2024, $943 per month). Under this option, the non-SSI spouse can earn more before the SSA calculations would reduce the SSI spouse’s cash benefits. If the SSI spouse has no income other than SSI benefits, cash benefit reductions would not begin until the non-SSI spouse earns more than about $1,972 per month in gross income. Assuming the SSI spouse has no non-SSI income, here are some examples of what would happen with a $943 living allowance deduction:

• If the non-SSI spouse earns $1,200 per month, then the SSI spouse’s cash benefit stays the same.
• If the non-SSI spouse earns $2,400 per month, then the SSI spouse’s cash benefit goes down, but by less than under the current system – to $729, or about a 23 percent cut.
• If the non-SSI spouse earns $2,950 per month, then the SSI spouse’s federal benefit goes down to $454 (a 52 percent cut), but this is more than the $0 under the current system.

Sources:

42 U.S. Code § 1382

42 USC § 1382a(b)(2),(4)

Social Security Administration, Income Exclusions for SSI Program, available at https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/incomexcluded.html.

Social Security Administration, Monthly Statistical Snapshot, December 2023, available at https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/2023-12.html.

Richard Balkus and Susan Wilschke, Treatment of Married Couples in the SSI Program, available at https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/issuepapers/ip2003-01.html.

Social Security Administration, SSI Federal Payment Amounts For 2024, available at https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/SSI.html.

Michelle Stegman Bailey & Jeffrey Hemmeter, “Characteristics of Noninstitutionalized DI and SSI Program Participants, 2013 Update,” The United States Social Security Administration (2015), available at https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/rsnotes/rsn2015-02.html.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers Fourth Quarter 2023, Table 7, available at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/wkyeng.pdf.