Implement Nebraska State Supplementary Payment (SSP)

[hua7450]

Summary

Implements Nebraska's State Supplementary Payment — Aid to the Aged, Blind, or Disabled — Payment (AABD-PMT) — a state-administered, state-funded "fill-the-gap" supplement that brings SSI recipients up to a living-arrangement-specific standard of need.

Closes #8234

Regulatory Authority

• Neb. Rev. Stat. § 68-1001 (AABD program statutory basis, 1965; SSI/SSP integration since 1974) and § 68-1005 (companion SDP) — https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=68-1005
• Title 469 Nebraska Administrative Code (469 NAC) — https://dhhs.ne.gov/Documents/Title-469-Complete.pdf
• 469-000-211 (Standard of Need / payment standards) — https://dhhs.ne.gov/Documents/469-000-211.pdf (effective 2021-01-01, still in effect; historical 2015 / 2017 versions via Wayback Machine)
• 469-000-207 (SSI Federal Benefit Rate reference) — https://dhhs.ne.gov/Documents/469-000-207.pdf
• SSA "State Assistance Programs for SSI Recipients, January 2011" — Nebraska — https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssi_st_asst/2011/ne.pdf#page=1 (program description) and https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssi_st_asst/2011/ne.pdf#page=2 (Table 1 rates and living-arrangement definitions)

Program Overview

• Administration: State-administered (Nebraska DHHS pays the supplement directly; SSA does not bundle it with the federal SSI check)
• Funding: State funds
• Payment model: Standard-of-need-based fill-the-gap, not a flat SSP. Payment = (standard of need + max shelter or alternate-living standard) − federal SSI FBR − other countable income, floored at zero.
• Current caseload: 5,437 recipients in 2009; 2010 state-administered SSP expenditures of $6,260,403 (SSA 2011 NE report — https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssi_st_asst/2011/ne.pdf#page=2)

Eligibility

Requirement	Source	How Modeled
Must actually receive SSI	469 NAC 3-006.01A; AABD-PMT supplement specifically for SSI recipients	ssi > 0 (already implies is_ssi_eligible + federal income test + takeup)
Must reside in Nebraska	469 NAC 2-003	defined_for = StateCode.NE
Aged 65+ OR blind/disabled (SSI definition)	469 NAC 2-005, 2-007	Implied by ssi > 0
Citizenship / qualified alien	469 NAC 2-002	Implied by ssi > 0
Federal SSI resource rules	469 NAC 2-009	Implied by ssi > 0
Federal SSI income rules + state fill-the-gap	469 NAC 2-010, 3-006.01A	Fill-the-gap: max_(0, total_budget − uncapped_ssi)

Benefit Amounts (469 NAC 469-000-211 — https://dhhs.ne.gov/Documents/469-000-211.pdf)

Independent Standard of Need (added to max shelter allowance)

Effective	1 person	2 persons	3	4	Each addl
2015-01-01	$491	$778	$964	$1,155	$191
2017-01-01	$505	$799	$989	$1,186	$198
2021-01-01 (frozen through 2025)	$564	$887	$1,109	$1,336	$222

Max Shelter Allowance (Independent only, frozen since 2015)

Single	Multiple
$281	$349

Alternate-Living Standards (monthly; PNA $64 embedded)

Living arrangement	2015	2017	2021–2025
Long-term care (NH, ICF/MR, hosp acute, IMD) — Medicaid pays PNA	$50	$60	$60
Board & Room / Boarding Home / Drug Treatment Center	$737	$739	$798
Certified Adult Family Home	$865	$867	$926
Licensed Assisted Living Facility / Mental Health Center	$1,175	$1,177	$1,236
Assisted Living Waiver (AD/TBI)	$733	$735	$794
Licensed Group Home (children/disabled)	$801	$803	$862
Licensed Center for Developmentally Disabled	$737	$739	$798

The 9 living arrangements in 469-000-211 collapse to 7 distinct alternate-living rate values plus an INDEPENDENT and NONE enum entry. Rates that always co-move (Board & Room, Boarding Home, Drug Treatment Center; Assisted Living Facility and Mental Health Center; Center for Developmentally Disabled and Boarding Home) share enum values.

Couple treatment: Joint 2-person Independent standard of need split 50/50 between spouses living together. Couples in any alternate-living arrangement are treated as two individuals (per SSA 2011 PDF Table 1 footnote a: "Couples are treated as two individuals starting with the month after leaving an independent living arrangement" — https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssi_st_asst/2011/ne.pdf#page=2).

Personal Needs Allowance: $64 PNA is embedded in all alternate-living standards (matches NAC structure). Long-Term Care = $60 because Medicaid covers the PNA in those settings.

No federal Code B / ISM tier: Per SSA 2011 PDF page 1, "Persons living in the household of another receive the same state supplement as those living independently." Nebraska pays the Independent standard regardless of household-of-another status.

COLA: No automatic indexing. Standards frozen at 2021 values since 2021-01-01 through at least 2025.

Couple gating

A combined 2-person Independent budget is used only when all three conditions are met:

• ssi_claim_is_joint (joint SSI claim)
• both spouses are SSI-eligible
• both spouses share the same Independent living arrangement

Otherwise, each spouse's AABD payment is computed individually (per SSA 2011 footnote a).

Not Modeled (by design)

What	Source	Why Excluded
State Disability Program (SDP) companion program	Neb. Rev. Stat. § 68-1005; 469 NAC	Separate program for non-SSI-eligible disabled individuals failing the 12-month durational test — separate PR
Special requirements (service animal $50/mo, etc.)	469 NAC 3-004.03	One-off allowances; small effect; deferred
Blind earned-income $20 add-back	469 NAC 3-006.01A1	Small effect; requires blind-earned-income tracking
Additional NE-only countable income subtraction	469 NAC 3-006.01A	Requires NE-specific income tracking beyond federal SSI countable income
Institutionalization rules (prison / public institution)	469 NAC 2-008	We don't track prison/public-institution residency at the moment
3rd-party medical cooperation	469 NAC 2-011	Administrative — not simulatable
No-other-categorical-assistance check	469 NAC 2-013	Administrative — not simulatable
Relative responsibility (beyond spouse-for-spouse)	469 NAC 2-006	Spouse-for-spouse already handled by SSI deeming; broader relative responsibility administrative
SSI + VA spouse separation	469 NAC 3-005.02 / 2-006.01	Rare; depends on VA Aid & Attendance modeling
Alternate-care spouse separations	469 NAC 3-006.02	Complex separations beyond couple split; deferred
State Assistance for Special Needs (transportation, furniture, etc.)	SSA 2011 NE PDF page 1	Separate need-based program, not SSP

Files

policyengine_us/parameters/gov/states/ne/dhhs/aabd/
  alternate_living_standard.yaml
  shelter_allowance/single.yaml
  shelter_allowance/multiple.yaml
  standard_of_need/independent.yaml

policyengine_us/variables/gov/states/ne/dhhs/aabd/
  ne_aabd.py
  ne_aabd_alternate_living_arrangement.py
  ne_aabd_couple_rate_applies.py
  ne_aabd_eligible.py
  ne_aabd_living_arrangement.py
  ne_aabd_standard_of_need.py

policyengine_us/tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/ne/dhhs/aabd/
  integration.yaml
  ne_aabd_eligible.yaml
  ne_aabd_living_arrangement.yaml

Plumbing updated: policyengine_us/variables/household/income/spm_unit/spm_unit_benefits.py, policyengine_us/parameters/gov/household/state_benefits/household_state_benefits.yaml, and policyengine_us/programs.yaml.

Note on naming: Variable prefix is ne_aabd_* (matching Nebraska's official program name "Aid to the Aged, Blind, or Disabled"), not the generic ne_ssp_* convention used in some other states.

Historical Notes

• 2015 → 2017: ~3% increase across most standards
• 2017 → 2021: ~12% increase across most standards
• 2021 → 2025: frozen at 2021 values
• Long-Term Care PNA: $50 in 2015, raised to $60 in 2017 and held since
• Independent / alternate-living PNA: $64 from 2015 onward (raised from $60 referenced in SSA 2011 PDF)

Verification TODO

• Verify payment amounts against 469 NAC 469-000-211 — https://dhhs.ne.gov/Documents/469-000-211.pdf
• Verify eligibility logic against 469 NAC chapters 2 and 3-006.01 — https://dhhs.ne.gov/Documents/Title-469-Complete.pdf
• Verify amounts current as of 2015–2025 (three effective-date tiers)
• Verify alternate-living-couple two-individuals rule against SSA 2011 PDF Table 1 footnote a — https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssi_st_asst/2011/ne.pdf#page=2
• CI passes

Test plan

• 34 tests pass across ne_aabd_eligible.yaml, ne_aabd_living_arrangement.yaml, and integration.yaml
• Microsim regression: clean
• CI passes

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 94.69%. Comparing base (623a65c) to head (b22b23f).
⚠️ Report is 134 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

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- Coverage   100.00%   94.69%   -5.31%     
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Flag	Coverage Δ
unittests	94.69% <100.00%> (-5.31%)	⬇️

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