Federal SSI Benefits

• The Social Security Administration screens and monitors SSI recipients, assuring that only qualifying individuals receive the monthly stipend. Individuals must qualify by income and resources as well as disability, blindness or age. Not all resources count. Exemptions include a house and lot, life and burial insurance under $1,500 and the value of burial plots or property used for income. Resources that count -- bank accounts, stocks, bonds and cash -- cannot exceed $2,000 for an individual in 2011. SSI regulations require income reporting each month to offset SSI benefits. Countable income includes earned and unearned income, as well as in-kind and deemed income. Interest, Social Security and veteran's benefits are examples of unearned income. Trading services or goods for food or shelter creates in-kind income. Deemed income is usually from a spouse or someone who lives with you. Part of their income counts in SSI computations.
  
  

Massachusetts Maximum SSI Benefits

• Massachusetts distributes state supplemental SSI funds through the Social Security Administration. The federal SSI benefit is $674 a month in 2011. Individuals living in Massachusetts who qualify by age receive an SSI maximum payment of $802.82, including a $128.82 supplement each month from the state. A disabled individual receives $788.39 or $114.39 each month from the state. A blind individual receives a maximum of $823.74 with $149.74 in the state supplement.
  
  

Living Arrangements

• If you share living expenses with another person, the federal and state governments reduce your benefits. Aged individuals receive a total of $713.26; disabled individuals receive $704.40 and blind individuals receive $823.74 in 2011. If you live with someone else and do not pay your fair share of rent and utilities, the Social Security Administration reduces SSI benefits by approximately one-third, to about $430 a month. The total benefit with federal SSI and the Massachusetts supplement for an aged individual living with someone else is $553.70. A disabled individual receives $536.92 a month. A blind person receives $823.74, with no change from shared living expenses for this group.
  
  

Living in a Facility

• Aged, blind or disabled individuals living in an assisted-living facility receive a $1,128 maximum benefit each month from the combination of SSI and the Massachusetts supplement. Individuals receive a total of $72.80 for personal living expenses in a Medicaid facility. Contribution for a licensed rest home from federal SSI and the Massachusetts supplement totals $967 for an aged or disabled individual and $823.74 for a blind person in 2011.