Millions of Supplemental Security Income recipients will receive their second December payment, worth up to $914 for individual filers, in just under one week.
The payment, which will be sent out on Friday, is an unusual second payment in one month. There is some variation in the amount received depending on whether a recipient is an individual filer, joint filer, or essential person.
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SSI payments are given on top of regular Social Security benefits, providing monthly payments to adults and children with blindness or another disability and limited income. To qualify for SSI, a person has to be totally or partially blind, or have a “physical or mental condition(s) that very seriously limits their daily activities for a period of 12 months or more or may be expected to result in death.”
Individual filers receive $914 each month, eligible couples receive $1,371, and essential persons, who live with people receiving SSI payments and provide them with necessary care, get a monthly payment of $458, according to the Social Security Administration.
Twelve SSI payments are sent out per year, but due to the scheduling of holidays and weekends, some months feature two payments while others have none. Recipients get two payments every December because Jan. 1 is always a holiday.
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Created in 1974, the SSI program seeks to provide extra assistance to society’s most vulnerable members, including elderly, blind, and disabled people. The program was intended to provide an income floor, which state assistance programs would further supplement.
The program was historic in that it shifted responsibility for determining who received assistance from the states to the federal government, according to a 2011 annual report.
