And
More than 71 million Americans will see a 3.2% increase in their Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments in 2024. On average, Social Security retirement benefits will increase by more than $50 per month starting in January - https://blog.ssa.gov/social-security-benefits-increase-in-2024/How to make the populace more dependent on government, and thus ensure votes/power:
WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA FOR A “DISABLED” OR “BLIND” CHILD? If under age 18, whether or not married or head of household, the child has a medically determinable physical or mental impairment or impairments which result in marked and severe functional limitations; and The impairment(s) has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months or be expected to result in death; or.. - https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-child-ussi.htm
The following sections contain medical criteria that apply only to the evaluation of impairments in children under age 18.100.00 Low Birth Weight and Failure to Thrive
101.00 Musculoskeletal Disorders
102.00 Special Senses and Speech
103.00 Respiratory Disorders
104.00 Cardiovascular System
105.00 Digestive Disorders
106.00 Genitourinary Disorders
107.00 Hematological Disorders
108.00 Skin Disorders
109.00 Endocrine Disorders
110.00 Congenital Disorders that Affect Multiple Body Systems
111.00 Neurological Disorders
112.00 Mental Disorders
113.00 Cancer (Malignant Neoplastic Diseases)
114.00 Immune System Disorders
- https://www.ssa.gov/disability/professionals/bluebook/ChildhoodListings.htm
The list of child disabilities above includes those that may qualify a child for help from the SSI program. Traumatic brain injury, autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, and intellectual disability are among those that could be eligible with enough medical and non-medical evidence. Special Senses and SpeechChildren with visual or hearing disorders can receive SSI benefits under this category. The SSA considers blindness, visual disorders, loss of visual efficiency, and hearing loss with or without cochlear implantation to be potentially eligible disorders.
From 2012:
Payments under SSI began in January 1974. Since 1974, the number of SSI recipients has slightly more than doubled. The number of children receiving SSI has gradually increased since 1974 and accelerated dramatically after a 1990 Supreme Court ruling liberalized the disability criteria for SSI children. Reforms enacted in 1984 that expanded benefit eligibility for the mentally disabled (and that took several years to implement) also influenced the surge in children receiving SSI.[10] Congress tightened the SSI eligibility rules for children in the 1996 welfare-reform law, however.
Most children who receive SSI live with a single parent and receive special education; on average, SSI payments provide nearly half of their family’s total income. The vast majority — 86 percent — of all SSI recipients in 2012 were eligible because of a disability, and 6 in 10 disabled recipients had a mental disability. Unlike Social Security (which is financed by dedicated payroll taxes), SSI is funded from general revenues. - https://www.cbpp.org/research/introduction-to-the-supplemental-security-income-ssi-program
112.00 Mental Disorders
AKA ‘Crazy Checks’..........................