SSI versus SSDI versus "welfare"

SSI is Supplemental Security Income. One receives it because one cannot work long and hard enough to make a living wage, due to being certified disabled. It has nothing to do with Social Security, it is just operated by them.

SSDI is U.S. Social Security Disability Income. It is about being disabled while working. Everyone working a regular job in the US that pays into Social Security, pays into this too. Someone had to work X amount for they or their dependents to qualify for this benefit. In addition, the person receiving SSDI has to be certified disabled.

Both of the above programs are about being certified disabled but the first one is primarily about working and being disabled but not making enough money to live on (according to Government standards) while the second one is about being too disabled to work at the moment, or probably, ever again.

Both are applied for and both can be received at the same time; being disabled is a common denominator. If you have been working since you were 16 and are disabled when you are 55, your SSDI is going to be greater than if you have been working since you were 16 but were disabled at 35; the older person has paid more into the system; the 35 year old might get SSDI and qualify for SSI because the SSDI amount is not enough to be lived on yet they are permanently disabled.

SSI is a Federal program but is run by the individual states and has some differences across states. Some states give you money, some give you food stamps worth some of your SSI amount. Some have good housing allotments but others don't; it depends on the region, that's why states run the supplemental programs; living in New York City is different from living in Tupelo, Mississippi. The Federal Government gives the States a percentage of the supplemental money based on their populations and the States figure out their part individually, under Federal "guide"lines, whatever works best for their disabled population with low income.

"Welfare" may seem to overlap SSI some (food stamps for example) but is not based on if you are disabled or not. Some programs come from the Federal Government (Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), or HeadStart, for example) but welfare is about poverty and low income, not disability, and the programs are mostly state, county, big city, or privately/non-profit run (like food banks, homeless shelters, drug rehab facilities, health clinics and other social support programs).