Q. I often hear about SSI. Is this same as Social Security? If not, what's the difference?
A. Supplemental Security Income for the Aged, Blind and Disabled (SSI) is a federal program that pays monthly checks to poor people who live in the United States. People often confuse SSI and Social Security: Their names are similar. And the Social Security Administration runs both programs.
SSI started in 1974. Before that, each state ran its own programs to assist its old-age and permanently-and-totally-disabled residents.
The federal government pays for SSI from general revenues. No Social Security tax money is used for SSI benefits or administrative expenses.
On the other hand, Social Security pays benefits to rich and poor and everyone in between. Social Security payroll taxes pay for Social Security benefits and administrative expenses. There are three requirements to get SSI:
Requirement #1: SSI recipients must be 65 or older, or disabled, or blind.
Disabled means too sick or injured to work. Workers earning more than $800 per month, or able to earn that much, are not disabled enough for SSI. Disabilities don't have to be permanent. But they must be long-term: expected to last for at least a year.
Blind means either totally blind or legally blind. Legally blind means vision no better than 20/200 -- with glasses -- in either eye. Legally blind can also mean a field of vision of less than 20 degrees.
Requirement #2: SSI recipients must be poor. They can't have much income. They can't own a lot of money or other property.
Income must be below $572 per month.  Husband and wife are counted together and their total income can't be more than $849 per month.
Savings, property, and other assets can't amount to more than $2,000 ($3,000 for a husband and wife). But not all property and assets count. For example, SSI ignores a home if it's occupied by the SSI recipient. Cars, burial arrangements, household goods and personal effects--within respective limits--don't count either.
Requirement #3: SSI recipients must be living in the United States. And generally, they must be U.S. citizens.
Congress made an exception to #3 for refugees. Refugees who meet all the other requirements can receive SSI for the first seven years they reside in the United States even if they don't become citizens.
Here's another exception: U.S. residents who are non-citizens can get SSI if they are blind or disabled, AND they were lawfully residing in the United States on Aug. 22, 1996.
Depending on other income, SSI pays as little as $1 per month, or as much as $552 per month. SSI checks come the first day of each month. Call 1-800-772-1213 to apply for SSI.
Click on this Social Security card for answers to more Social Security questions.