(1) SSI is a federal cash benefit program administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA) under Title XVI of the Social Security Act.

(2) You can get SSI if you have limited income and resources and if you are:

(a) Aged (sixty-five and older);

(b) Blind; or

(c) Disabled.

(3) The SSI program replaced state programs for aged, blind and disabled persons beginning in January 1974. If you received state assistance in December 1973 and you became eligible for SSI in January 1974, you are called a grandfathered client by the state and a mandatory income level (MIL) client by SSI. You must continue to meet the definition of blind or disabled that was in effect under the state plan in December 1973. These definitions can be found in the SSA program operations manual system (POMS), see http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf.

(4) If you are needed in the home to care for an eligible person, you are called an essential person. You are also called a grandfathered client.

(5) If you are an essential person you must have lived continuously with the eligible person since January 1974.

(6) If you are an SSI recipient and you have a spouse who does not qualify for SSI in their own right, you may be eligible for a state supplemental payment for your spouse (also referred to as an ineligible spouse).

(1) If you are married to an SSI recipient but do not get SSI in your own right, you are called an "ineligible spouse."

(2) If you are an ineligible spouse you cannot get the SSI state supplement when you are:

(a) The caretaker relative of a child who receives TANF or SFA; and

(b) Required to be included in the TANF or SFA assistance unit with the child (see WAC 388-408-0015); or

(c) Receiving refugee assistance.

(3) If you are an ineligible spouse and get an SSI state supplement (WAC 388-474-0012), you cannot get aged, blind, or disabled (ABD) cash assistance.

(1) The state supplemental payment (SSP) is a state-funded cash assistance program for certain clients who the Social Security Administration determines are eligible for supplemental security income (SSI).

(2) You can get an SSP if:

(a) You are a grandfathered SSI recipient under WAC 388-474-0001;

(b) You are an individual with an ineligible spouse under WAC 388-474-0001;

(c) You receive SSI because you are age 65 or older under WAC 388-474-0001;

(d) You receive SSI because you are blind under WAC 388-474-0001;

(e) You receive SSI because you are disabled under WAC 388-474-0001;

(f) You are determined eligible for SSP by the developmental disabilities administration;

(g) You are eligible for and receive SSI as a foster child receiving specific services through children's administration behavior rehabilitation services (BRS) for part or all of a month, and not eligible for foster care reimbursement under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act; or

(h) You are an SSI recipient residing in a medical institution and your SSI has been reduced based on the institutional SSI payment standard.

You may only receive assistance to meet your basic needs from one government source at a time (WAC 388-449-0210). If you are an ABD cash client who begins getting SSI, you should know that:

(1) If you got advance, emergency, or retroactive SSI cash assistance for any period in which you received aged, blind, or disabled (ABD) cash assistance, you must repay the department the amount of cash assistance paid to you for the matching time period.

(2) When you receive ABD cash and have an SSI application pending with the Social Security Administration, you must sign DSHS 18-235, interim assistance reimbursement authorization (IARA), to continue to receive ABD cash assistance.

(3) You cannot use your ABD money to replace money deducted from your SSI check to repay an SSI overpayment.