In addition to the regular Social Security benefits, the Social Security Administration (SSA) also pays out another type of monthly benefit called the Supplemental Security Income. This Supplemental Security Income is paid to adults who are older than 65, disabled, or blind with little to no other resources. The Supplemental Security Income payment is generally made on the first of each month and is marked as such alongside the regular Social Security benefit payments on the SSA’s official payment schedule.
For a period of one year, beginning in May 2023 until May 2024, the number of beneficiaries claiming the Supplemental Security Income dropped by some 100,000. Currently, there are around 7.4 million beneficiaries of the Supplemental Security Income (accurate as of May 2025), so whilst a drop of 100,000 beneficiaries may not seem as large relative to the total, it still is a fluctuation that is significantly larger than what is generally recorded.
What is happening with Social Security disability checks?
According to the SSA website, the following individuals qualify to receive the Supplemental Security Income:
Adults and children might be eligible for SSI if they have:
- Little or no income, and
- Little or no resources, and
- A disability, blindness, or are age 65 or older.
On a month to month basis, the number of Supplemental Security Income recipients does tend to fluctuate, however, these fluctuations are generally slight at best. Whilst the massive drop of 100,000 beneficiaries in the 2023 to 2024 period was rather significant, the number of Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries has since remained a lot closer to stagnant.
For this year, during the period from February to May, there have only been slight month to month fluctuation in beneficiary numbers. From February to March, the number of recipients increased — though not drastically — from 7,283,533 to 7,284,527. Another increase was noted from March to April, raising the total number of recipients to 7,294,562. May 2025, however, brought with it a slight decline in numbers, with the total dropping to 7,281,384.
What causes SSI payments to stop?
“The termination of benefits in the Social Security disability program is based predominantly on four factors: conversion to the retirement program (that is, attainment of full retirement age), death, medical recovery, and work recovery. In addition, benefits to disabled widow(er)s and disabled adult children can be terminated for marriage or for entitlement to a larger benefit,” the SSA outlined in a report titled ‘Trends in the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income Disability Programs’.
The report continues on to explain that, “in the SSI program, termination is a quite different concept. Although payments are terminated for death and medical recovery, suspension of payments is common, particularly for financial reasons. Payments may be suspended because the recipient has excess earnings, excess unearned income, excess resources, or a change in living arrangements. For the purposes of this book, individuals who have had their SSI payments suspended for 12 months or longer are considered terminated from the SSI program.”
Projected shortfall
By now, it is no hidden fact that the Social Security program is on a path that leads to the exhaustion of its trusts funds. According to projections in the latest annual report from the board of trustees, the OASI trust fund will be depleted by 2034, at which point the remaining income will cover only 77% of scheduled payments.
The DI trust fund, however, was projected to be able to continue paying 100% of scheduled benefits until 2099, which is the end date of the projection period for the report. The SSI benefits are paid from the DI trust fund. The report then goes on to note that if the OASI and the DI trust funds are combined into the OASDI trust fund, then 100% of scheduled benefits will only be covered up until 2034. Following this point, the remaining income in the program will only be able to cover 81% of scheduled benefits going forward.
The report does, however, note that, “the two funds could not actually be combined unless there were a change in the law, but the combined projection of the two funds is frequently used to indicate the overall status of the Social Security program.”