Disabled couples can't get married without losing benefits
Disabled couples can't get married without losing benefits
A FOX6 investigation found that a law has some couples with permanent disabilities living a life of forbidden love.
FRANKLIN, Wis. - In Wisconsin alone, more than 100,000 adults with disabilities receive monthly Supplemental Security Income payments of $943 per month. If they get married, however, a decades-old federal law slashes those benefits and threatens the support services that come with them. A FOX6 investigation found that the law has some couples with permanent disabilities living a life of forbidden love.
The ‘Marriage Penalty’
The backstory:
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a Social Security program for older adults and people with disabilities who have limited income. Recipients get both a monthly cash payment and Medicaid, which covers personal caregiver services and other things many people with permanent disabilities need to live in the community rather than an institution.
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Individuals who receive full SSI benefits currently receive $943 per month. Two individuals can separately receive a total of $1,886 per month. However, if two disabled individuals get married, their maximum benefit is $1,415 – a decrease of $471 per month (or 25%).
To remain eligible for SSI and the associated Medicaid benefits, an individual can have no more than $2,000 in countable assets. For two individuals, that's a total of $4,000. However, if those individuals get married, the asset cap drops to $3,000 (also a 25% decrease).
Childhood sweethearts
What they're saying:
Evan Gerndt and Andi Minster met as young children, playing wheelchair basketball. Their friendship grew into more as they entered adulthood. Today, after nearly a decade together, the young couple would like to get married.
"I want to spend the rest of my life with this person," Gerndt said.
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Both have cerebral palsy.
"He just gets it," Minster said.
Both rely on caregiver services through Medicaid. Because of that, they learned, getting married could jeopardize their benefits altogether.
"And that’s when our world kind of crumbled," Minster said. "And we were like, ‘Okay, now what do we do?’"
Evan Gerndt and Andi Minster are disabled adults who live separately and say they cannot marry without risking Medicaid benefits that include caregiver services they need to live in the community, rather than an institution.
Holding out
Dig deeper:
Minster lives with her parents in Franklin. Gerndt lives in an apartment 10 minutes away. The young couple said they can't even live together without risking their benefits. The Social Security Administration uses the term "holding out" to describe couples who are not legally married, but present themselves as though they are by sharing a home, filing joint taxes, and calling each other husband and wife.
"When I introduce her," Gerndt said, "I have to introduce her as 'the girlfriend.'"
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Holding out is considered to be the same as being married for purposes of SSI.
"Why is it OK that every other minority group can marry who they want except disabled people?" Minster said.
Fight for ‘equality’
What They're Doing:
Four bills were introduced in the 118th session of Congress to address "marriage equality" in the SSI program.
Two of those bills (HB 6640 and HB 7138) were exclusively supported by Democrats. Two other bills (HB 5408 and HB 7055) received bipartisan support.
The price tag
By the numbers:
Two Wisconsin Republicans – Rep. Glenn Grothman and Rep. Derrick Van Orden – co-sponsored HB 5408, which would have raised the asset limits for SSI eligibility to $10,000 per individual and $20,000 per married couple (eliminating the 25% penalty). It would also have indexed those asset limits to future inflation. The Social Security Administration estimates the bill would have cost $9.8 billion over a 10-year period (approximately $1 billion annually).
One Wisconsin Democrat – Rep. Gwen Moore – cosponsored HB 7138, which would have raised the asset limits, increased monthly benefit amounts, ended the "holding out" rule, and eliminated the 25% penalty for monthly SSI payments. The Social Security Administration estimates the bill would have cost $510 billion over a 10-year period (approximately $51 billion annually).
All four bills died at the end of 2024 when the 118th session of Congress expired.
A renewed effort
What's next:
On Jan. 13, 2025, U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) introduced Senate Bill 73, also known as the Eliminating the Marriage Penalty in SSI Act – or EMPSA for short. The bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland). EMPSA would eliminate the marriage penalty for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities, but it would not raise the asset limits. So far, the Social Security Administration has not provided an estimate of cost for that bill.