Fix It but Don’t Decimate It : Meet SSI--the most expensive and fastest-growing U.S. welfare program

A severely disabled child is a heartbreak, and often an economic nightmare for parents. Many poor families with such a child need help to pay for supervision, wheelchairs and other unavoidable expenses.

In 1990, a Supreme Court decision made it easier for poor disabled children to qualify for federal aid under a program known as Supplemental Security Income. Congress originally created SSI, which is handled by the Social Security Administration, to help poor elderly, blind and disabled Americans. Eligibility was broadened in 1974 to include poor disabled children who met stringent criteria.

Since the 1990 court decision, the number of disabled children on SSI has risen from 340,000 to more than 771,000. The cost also has more than doubled. (In the same period, Aid to Families with Dependent Children rose only 25%.)

That makes SSI the most expensive and fastest-growing federal welfare program. Blame the increase in part on crack babies, low-birth-weight infants and babies infected with HIV. Children who had been wrongly denied before the court decision also have swelled the rolls.

Unfortunately, fraud is a factor too. One investigation found that nearly 9% of a small sample of disabled children improperly received aid because of “misapplications or misunderstandings about the rules and guidelines.”

“Crazy money” is what some abusers of SSI call their fraudulent benefits: Parents may coach their children to act retarded or flunk tests in order to qualify for the aid. Obviously, Congress must act to end this cheating, but some House Republicans would go a Draconian step further. The GOP welfare bill pending before the House Ways and Means Committee would deny benefits to all new applicants who were not institutionalized and would cut off recipients who had qualified because they did not function in an “age-appropriate” manner but would have failed to qualify under stricter Social Security disability standards. That goes too far.

Congress should fix SSI, not decimate it. A stricter definition of disability and greater oversight would reduce the potential for fraud in SSI without dumping seriously disabled children.