NCLEJ protects SSP for disabled and elderly in New York State
NCLEJ submitted comments in opposition to proposed regulatory changes in the New York State Supplement Program (“SSP”). SSP provides a modest additional payment to recipients of federal Supplemental Security Income (“SSI”), for indigent people who are elderly or have disabilities.
The proposed regulatory changes were drafted in part to supersede three state court cases in New York in which the agency that operates SSP was directed to pay SSP benefits to individuals who had previously been eligible, but did not currently have open SSP cases. The agency had refused to issue these SSP payments even after all three individuals won administrative hearings directing the payments be made and necessitating court intervention. If enacted the newly proposed regulations would formalize the agency’s policy of refusing to pay SSP benefits to individuals who had a short period of eligibility but do not have a currently open SSP case.
The proposed regulations also imposed administrative burdens and limited the Due Process rights of the elderly and disabled persons who receive SSP. NCLEJ strongly opposes efforts at administrative simplification that compromise the fundamental rights of benefits recipients and make critical income supports harder to access.
