Given increasing evidence that medical care cannot fully explain variation in population
health and increasing research on the relationship between socioeconomic factors and
health, might non-health policies affect health? This research examines whether
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) affects disability among the elderly. We use the
1990 and 2000 censuses, employing state and year fixed effect models, to test whether
within state changes in maximum SSI benefits over time, which are plausibly exogenous
to health, lead to changes in disability. The findings from this study support the
hypothesis that both within-state changes in the maximum state SSI benefit and changes
in SSI income received by individuals lead to changes in disability among single elderly
individuals. Higher SSI benefits are linked to lower disability rates.