You asked whether a person who is receiving retirement benefits from Social Security can also receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits if he or she has a disability.

SUMMARY

Someone receiving Social Security retirement benefits may qualify for SSI simply based on the fact that he or she is age 65 or older. The fact that the applicant may have a disability would have no bearing on his or her meeting SSI's nonfinancial eligibility criterion. But applicants must also meet SSI's financial eligibility requirements. If the applicant is receiving only Social Security retirement income and has little, if any, other income and minimal liquid assets, he or she might qualify for SSI. If not, he or she might qualify for the State Supplement to the federal SSI program.

QUALIFYING FOR SSI

To qualify for SSI, an individual must be aged (65 or over), blind, or disabled. But unlike retirement benefits, SSI benefits are means-tested, which means they are paid only when the applicant passes certain financial tests.

To qualify financially for SSI, an applicant's monthly income (if it is a single person applying) is compared to the federal benefit rate (FBR, $ 623 per month in 2007). As long as the income is less than that rate, a person meets the income requirement.

In determining income, the Social Security Administration excludes the first $ 20, as well as other types of payments that an individual might receive. But in general, all but the first $ 20 of the applicant's retirement income is counted. The net income amount is compared to the FBR and the difference is the amount of SSI benefit. Applicants must also have no more than $ 2,000 in liquid assets ($ 3,000 if married). Certain assets (e. g. , home) are not counted towards this limit. The income of the applicant's spouse who is not applying for assistance may also be counted.

Individuals qualifying for SSI and those who do not may also qualify for the State Supplement to SSI. Like SSI, eligibility for the State Supplement is means tested. But the asset limit is lower ($ 1,600 or $ 2,400 for single or married individuals, respectively). Applicants must pass a gross income test (300% of the federal SSI benefit, currently $ 1,869 per month). The actual benefit is calculated similarly to SSI, with the maximum State Supplement payment compared with the applicant's net income, after certain unearned and unearned (if any) income is disregarded, and the benefit being the difference between the two.

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