From Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity
Children’s participation in the federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program has declined substantially over the past decade. Many children with disabilities might be eligible for SSI, yet barriers such as a lack of knowledge of the program or perceived challenges with applying may limit participation. In a new paper, David Wittenburg, a senior fellow at Mathematica, and Michael Levere, an assistant professor of economics at Colgate University and a senior researcher at Mathematica, use machine learning models on Medicaid administrative data to estimate that as many as 650,000 kids could be eligible but are not receiving SSI payments. Wittenburg and Levere spoke to Spotlight recently about the study; See transcript here. It transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
