On January 1, 1974, the federal law (PL 92-603) which established the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program became effective. This program replaced the state administered programs of Old Age Assistance (OAA), Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled (PTD), and Aid to the Blind (AB) with a federally funded and administered program with uniform, nationwide eligibility requirements and a base level of payments. Prior to January 1974, the cases of persons receiving an OAA, PTD, or AB grant were prepared for this transfer to the SSI program. It became apparent that all the cases could not be transferred (i.e. converted) to SSI, primarily because some persons had too much income to qualify. Therefore, in order to insure that none of the persons who received a cash OAA, PTD, or AB grant in December 1973 would lose any income as a result of the new SSI program, several state and federal laws were passed. The laws required the states to maintain a December 1973 income level for those recipients. If the SSI payment did not do this, the state would make supplemental payments. These laws guarantee a December 1973 income level or Eligible Income Level (EIL) to all persons who legitimately received a cash OAA, PTD, or AB grant in December 1973 and either were ineligible for SSI because of income or would suffer a loss of income due to conversion to SSI. The guaranteed income level is the recipient's CONVERSION RIGHT.
To determine the December 1973 Eligible Income Level, the gross earned and unearned income (excluding all income from DMH) was added to the amount of OAA, PTD, or AB payment received in December 1973. If the SSI payment when added to all income equalled or exceeded this amount, no additional state payment was required (SSI-Only). If the SSI payment when added to all income was less than this amount, a state supplemental payment was required to make up the difference (SSI-SP). If the recipient was not eligible for an SSI payment, a state supplemental payment was required to keep the recipient's income at the December 1973 level (SP-Only). Individuals who were eligible for a state supplemental payment were afforded certain “guarantees” due to their “conversion” status. As a result, we have two types of conversion cases: SSI-SP and SP-Only. Supplemental (cash) payments for SP-Only and SSI-SP persons are paid entirely from State Funds.
This manual deals only with CONVERSION recipients. That is, those persons who legitimately received a CASH OAA, PTD, or AB grant in December 1973 and who were “converted” to SSI-SP or SP-Only. The determination of continued SSI eligibility for these recipients, as well as initial eligibility for new SSI applicants, is the responsibility of the Social Security Administration (SSA). The eligibility requirements for SSI are very generally outlined in Appendix D. The maximum SSI payments are also listed in Appendix D.
FOR SP-ONLY, Section 208.030 RSMo subsection 3 states that all persons eligible for and receiving Old Age Assistance benefits, Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled benefits, or Aid to the Blind benefits for the month of December 1973 who do not meet the eligibility requirements for the Federal Supplemental Security Income Program shall be eligible for a State Supplemental Payment in accordance with the December 1973 eligibility standards for the Old Age Assistance Program, Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled Program, or Aid to the Blind Program. The Supplemental Payment shall be in an amount established by rule and regulation of the Division of Family Services, sufficient to, when added to all other income, equal the amount of case income received in December 1973.
FOR SSI-SP, Section 208.030 RSMo subsection 1 and 2 provide that:
“1. The Division of Family Services shall make monthly payments to each person who was a recipient of Old Age Assistance, Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled, and Aid to the Blind and who (1) received such assistance payments from the State of Missouri for the month of December 1973 to which they were legally entitled; and (2) is a resident of Missouri.”
“2. The amount of supplemental payment made to persons who meet the eligibility requirements for and receive federal supplemental security income payments shall be in an amount, as established by rule and regulation of the Division of Family Services, sufficient to, when added to all other income, equal the amount of cash income received in December 1973; except, in establishing the amount of the supplemental payments, there shall be disregarded cost-of-living increases provided for in Titles II and XVI of the Federal Social Security Act and any benefits or income required to be disregarded . . .”.