The survey of the low-income aged and disabled: an introduction

As 1974 began, the Social Security Administration started distributing supplemental security income (SSI) payment checks to aged, blind, and disabled poor persons throughout the Nation. Shortly before the first SSI checks were issued, the Bureau of the Census completed personal interviews with 17,551 individuals from which SSI's clientele would be drawn--aged and disabled welfare recipients and the aged and disabled poor persons in the general population. These data, collected for the Social Security Administration is late 1973, and comparable information gathered from the same respondents in late 1974 make up the Survey of the Low-Income Aged and Disabled (SLIAD). Its findings will be used to describe the circumstances of needy aged and disabled persons before SSI, determine the program's success in attracting those who qualified for its benefits during the first year of operations, and assess the effect of participation on the well-being of recipients.