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Title: Does the Supplemental Security Income Program Reduce Disability among the Elderly?

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2005

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Abstract: Given increasing evidence that medical care cannot fully explain variation in populationhealth and increasing research on the relationship between socioeconomic factors andhealth, might non-health policies affect health? This research examines whetherSupplemental Security Income (SSI) affects disability among the elderly. We use the1990 and 2000 censuses, employing state and year fixed effect models, to test whetherwithin state changes in maximum SSI benefits over time, which are plausibly exogenousto health, lead to changes in disability. The findings from this study support thehypothesis that both within-state changes in the maximum state SSI benefit and changesin SSI income received by individuals lead to changes in disability among single elderlyindividuals. Higher SSI benefits are linked to lower disability rates.

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Authors: Schoeni, Robert F.; Herd, Pamela; House, James S.

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Publication Number: #05-21

Institution: University of Michigan

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Publisher Location: Ann Arbor, MI

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Aging and Retirement, Health, Poverty and Welfare

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