SSA Incentive Payments

SSA offices will develop written agreements with correctional facilities to provide cash incentives when correctional facilities submit new inmate rosters to SSA on a regular basis. For every inmate on such rosters who is enrolled in SSI and whose eligibility is terminated due to length of incarceration, SSA will provide cash payment to the correctional facility. See Special Topic: Eligibility for more information on SSI suspension and termination. Some may view these payments as “bounties” for inmates. Yet, establishing incentive payment arrangements with Social Security offices can offer a number of benefits to both inmates and the correctional facility.

For example, early notification to SSA prevents inmates from later being considered “in overpayment” for cash assistance they received when their eligibility should have been suspended or terminated, as per federal rules. When a person is in overpayment status, certain sums of money are deducted from the benefits check until the overpayment is satisfied.

In addition, by establishing such agreements with regional or local SSA offices, jail and prison administrators may be able to develop broader agreements with these offices to facilitate prompt reinstatement or provision of benefits on release (see SSA prerelease procedure below for more information).

Medicaid Data Match

Depending on the parameters of state law, Medicaid agencies may be willing to identify current or previously eligible Medicaid recipients by conducting a data match based on Social Security numbers (SSN) or date of birth. However, because of errors such as SSN transposition in data entry, the hit rate of such data matching is normally much lower than the rate of individuals who are or were actually eligible.

SSA prerelease procedure

SSA offices will process SSI benefits several months before an anticipated release from an institution so that benefits can begin soon after an individual’s release; this process is known as SSA’s prerelease procedure. However, SSA offices still will not pay for SSI/SSDI benefits when an individual resides in a public institution (see special topic Eligibility for more information).

Eligibility Determination

Social Security field offices or state disability determination services may offer “presumptive eligibility” to certain SSI applicants before a full medical evaluation of that individual has taken place if there is a high probability that they will be deemed disabled. In such cases, SSI applicants may receive benefits for up to six months while a formal determination is pending.^[1] Click here for more information on types of disabilities for which these offices may award presumptive eligibility.

In some states or counties, jail or prison administrators may be able to develop agreements or arrangements with state offices overseeing Medicaid eligibility to award eligibility to certain applicants before evaluations have been completed if there is a high likelihood that the individual will be deemed disabled. (see Lane County, Ore., Presumptive Disability Legislation example).

Agreements with state disability determination services

In most states, disability claims related to SSI/SSDI are processed through state agencies called disability determination services (DDS).^[2] Some states have developed agreements with SSA offices to develop specialized units within the DDS or specialized staff within the DDS to process claims from homeless applicants (see Boston, MA, Homeless DDS Unit example). Staff of such units may be specially attuned to issues facing applicants who are homeless (e.g., lack of address or inability to access some types of documentation) and also may be able to expedite these individuals’ disability determinations. Corrections officials could initiate agreements with SSA offices to develop specialized units or staff within DDSs to process disability determinations for individuals applying from jails or prisons.