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Implement Georgia State Supplementary Payment (SSP)#7885

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hua7450:ga-ssp
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Implement Georgia State Supplementary Payment (SSP)#7885
hua7450 wants to merge 3 commits intoPolicyEngine:mainfrom
hua7450:ga-ssp

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@hua7450 hua7450 commented Mar 26, 2026

Summary

Implements Georgia's State Supplementary Payment (SSP) — a flat monthly supplement for SSI recipients residing in Medicaid facilities (federal Living Arrangement Code D).

Closes #7884

Regulatory Authority

Program Overview

  • Administration: State-administered (Georgia Department of Human Services / DFCS)
  • Funding: State funds (both administration and assistance)
  • Current caseload: 2,929 recipients (January 2011, SSA report); expenditures $587,100 (CY 2010)
  • Scope: SSI recipients in Medicaid facilities only — Georgia's simplest possible SSP (one living arrangement, flat dollar amount)
  • Statutory basis: Georgia House Bill 1027 (FY2007 appropriations), line 2496

Eligibility

Requirement Source How Modeled
Must be SSI-eligible (aged/blind/disabled + resources + immigration) SSA 2011 GA report ("All SSI recipients"); PAMMS 2578 is_ssi_eligible
Must actually receive SSI (income not too high) Federal SSI income rules uncapped_ssi > 0
Must reside in Georgia PAMMS 2578 defined_for = StateCode.GA
Must reside in Medicaid facility (federal Code D) SSA 2011 GA report; PAMMS 2578 ga_ssp_in_medicaid_facility (new bool input)
Resource test follows federal SSI rules SSA 2011 GA report ("Federal SSI regulations apply") Delegated to is_ssi_eligible
Income exclusions follow federal SSI rules SSA 2011 GA report ("Federal SSI regulations apply") Delegated to uncapped_ssi (SSI benefit formula minus countable income)

Benefit Amounts (PAMMS 2578, SSA 2011 Table 1)

Era Effective Date Individual (monthly) Couple (monthly) Source
1st 2006-07-01 $20 $40 SSA 2007–2011 reports, PAMMS 2578
2nd 2018-07-01 $35 $70 PAMMS 2578, CMS SPA GA 18-0004
3rd 2019-07-01 $40 $80 PAMMS 2578

Couple treatment: Each eligible person receives the individual rate (couple = 2x individual). Confirmed by SSA 2011 Table 1 ($40 couple = 2x$20) and CMS SPA ($130 couple PNA = 2x$65).
COLA: None — amounts change only by legislative action ("Passalong method: Maintaining payment levels").

Not Modeled (by design)

What Source Why Excluded
Approved Level of Care requirement PAMMS 2578 Clinical/medical determination, not simulatable from survey data
No asset transfer below FMV within 60 months PAMMS 2578 Behavioral/historical determination, not simulatable
Federal Medicaid facility SSI rate ($30/individual) 42 USC 1382(e)(1)(B) Informational only — already modeled in federal SSI parameters

Files

parameters/gov/states/ga/dhs/ssp/
  amount.yaml                          # 3 rate eras: $20/$35/$40

variables/gov/states/ga/dhs/ssp/
  ga_ssp.py                            # SPM unit total (adds=[ga_ssp_person])
  ga_ssp_person.py                     # Per-person amount (defined_for=eligible)
  ga_ssp_eligible_person.py            # Eligibility: is_ssi_eligible AND uncapped_ssi > 0 AND in_medicaid_facility
  ga_ssp_in_medicaid_facility.py       # Input variable: Medicaid facility residency (bool)

tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/ga/dhs/ssp/
  ga_ssp_eligible_person.yaml          # 12 eligibility tests (singles + couples + income levels)
  ga_ssp_person.yaml                   # 3 benefit amount tests (current, zero, first era)
  integration.yaml                     # 9 end-to-end tests (single, couple, mixed, all 3 eras, income)
  edge_cases.yaml                      # 7 tests (non-GA resident, era boundaries, mixed facility status)

Verification TODO

  • Verify payment amounts against PAMMS 2578 and CMS SPA GA 18-0004
  • Verify eligibility logic against SSA 2011 GA report
  • Verify amounts current as of 2019-2025 (no rate change since 2019-07-01; PAMMS 2578 confirms $40 is current)
  • Add ga_ssp to spm_unit_benefits.py once verified
  • Add to programs.yaml program registry
  • CI passes

Test plan

  • 31 tests pass (12 eligibility + 3 amount + 9 integration + 7 edge cases)
  • CI passes

hua7450 and others added 2 commits March 26, 2026 00:57
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codecov bot commented Mar 26, 2026

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 100.00%. Comparing base (ac35815) to head (50b9b12).
⚠️ Report is 23 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files
@@            Coverage Diff            @@
##              main     #7885   +/-   ##
=========================================
  Coverage   100.00%   100.00%           
=========================================
  Files            2         4    +2     
  Lines           32        42   +10     
=========================================
+ Hits            32        42   +10     
Flag Coverage Δ
unittests 100.00% <100.00%> (ø)

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… tests

- Add uncapped_ssi > 0 check to ga_ssp_eligible_person (is_ssi_eligible alone
  does not include income test — must verify person actually receives SSI)
- Fix ODIS URL (302 redirect) → direct PAMMS 2578 URL
- Fix CMS SPA #page=2 → #page=5 (actual PNA amounts table)
- Add defined_for = StateCode.GA to ga_ssp_in_medicaid_facility
- Annotate SSA 2011 reference as ($20 value only)
- Add 12 eligibility tests: singles (income levels, zero boundary) + couples
  (both eligible, one high income, both high income, both not SSI-eligible, mixed)
- Add 2 income-based integration tests for couples
- Remove sources/working_references.md (intentional)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@hua7450 hua7450 marked this pull request as ready for review March 26, 2026 20:40
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Implement Georgia State Supplementary Payment (SSP)

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