Neil's Notebook Economic recovery payments going to millions of Social Security recipients
May 7, 2009
The $250 economic recovery payments for Social Security recipients, which were provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will begin to go out on May 7 – with the goal of all these payments being sent out by the end of May. The payments total more than $13 billion and will go out to more than 50 million people.
In addition, by mid-May, payments to recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits will also begin to go out.
Millions of the Social Security recipients receiving these payments are widowed, divorced, or single and among the seniors with the lowest average incomes.
These payments will make a difference:
Social Security is the only source of income for nearly one-third of all nonmarried seniors receiving Social Security.
The median annual income for nonmarried Social Security recipients over age 65 who are women is only $13,151. The median annual income of nonmarried Social Security recipients over age 65 who are men is only $17,611.
Nearly 30 percent of nonmarried Social Security recipients who are women over age 65 are poor or near-poor – with 17.4 percent living below the federal poverty line and another 10.8 percent with incomes below 125 percent of the poverty line.
In addition to the economic recovery payments being made to Social Security and SSI recipients, the Recovery Act also provides these payments to disabled veterans and Railroad Retirement recipients. The payments to Railroad Retirement recipients are scheduled to begin to go out in late May and the payments to disabled veterans in June. In total, more than 50 million Americans will get this one-time payment.
If someone regularly receives benefits from two or more of these programs – such as Social Security and Railroad Retirement, or a disabled veterans’ benefit and SSI – he or she will receive just one $250 payment.
