Disability Rights Florida is proud to join 370 other organizations dedicated to improving the lives of older adults and people with disabilities to support the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act. This Act would increase the amount of assets that Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients can save without risking their crucial SSI benefits.
SSI is a program that provides financial assistance to those who cannot work enough to meet their basic needs. However, the program's asset limits have not been updated since 1989, making it nearly impossible for SSI recipients to meaningfully save money without risking their benefits. Currently, to qualify for SSI, individuals cannot have more than $2,000 in savings, while married couples are limited to $3,000. The Act would raise these limits to $10,000 and $20,000, respectively.
Approximately 7.8 million people rely on SSI, including 4.3 million working-age individuals with disabilities, 1 million children with disabilities, and 2.3 million older adults. The SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act would significantly improve their lives by raising the asset limits for SSI recipients, and we thoroughly support this effort.
Peter Sleasman, Executive Director of Disability Rights Florida, shares, "This would be monumental for the disability community, which is overrepresented in poverty because of these outdated asset rules. Giving disabled and all folks on SSI autonomy with their money is crucial to advancing disability rights."