Thousands of Children Removed From Social Security

The number of Americans under 18 years of age who receive federal payments from the Social Security Administration (SSA) dropped by about 6,800 in March, according to the latest Supplemental Security Income (SSI) monthly data released by the agency.

In March, there were about 982,000 recipients of federal payments who are under 18 years old, the data showed. The previous month's data showed that 989,000 under 18 year olds received the benefits.

It was not immediately clear why that category of recipients saw a decline. One possible reason could be that these young people have aged out of being beneficiaries of the payments.

Newsweek contacted the SSA for comment on Monday. We will update our story with any new information we receive.

Last month, those in the category of 18 to 64 years old also declined by a little over 11,000—from 3.972 million in February to 3.961 million in March.

Overall, Americans who are at least 65 years old, are blind or have disability and are of limited income can qualify for assistance through the Social Security Administration.

"Children younger than age 18 are eligible if they have a medical condition or combination of conditions that meets Social Security's definition of disability," according to the agency. "Their income and resources must fall within the eligibility limits. The amount of the SSI payment differs from state to state because some states add to the SSI payment."

The agency's rules also point out that when a child turns 18 years old, that recipient's eligibility for benefits will be reviewed through a process knows as redetermination for "continued SSI payments based on the disability rules for adults," according to the SSA.

"These include nonmedical eligibility rules pertaining to income, resources, residency, citizenship, etc," the SSA says. "These rules are different than the rules that were applied when you were a child. We call this review an age-18 redetermination."

Medical professionals help determine whether the 18-year-old can be eligible, the SSA says.

"Doctors and other trained staff will decide if your impairment(s) meet the qualifying disability rules for adults. Our disability rules for adults are different from our qualifying disability rules for children," the SSA says.

The SSA estimates that about a third of children lose their SSI eligibility after the 18-year-old redetermination review.

In March, the SSI monthly data revealed that there were about 13,500 people less who were recipients of federal payments, according to the Social Security Administration. About 7.27 million Americans received federal payments last month compared to 7.284 million in February, the data showed.