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Implement Iowa State Supplementary Payment (SSP)#8017

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Implement Iowa State Supplementary Payment (SSP)#8017
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@hua7450 hua7450 commented Apr 16, 2026 •
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Summary

Implements Iowa's State Supplementary Assistance (SSA) — a state SSI supplement program administered by Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under Iowa Code Chapter 249. SSA provides six modeled supplement categories (Blind, Dependent Person, Family-Life Home, In-Home Health-Related Care, Residential Care Facility, and Supplement for Medicare and Medicaid Eligibles) for low-income aged, blind, and disabled Iowans who receive or would receive federal SSI.

Closes #7733

Regulatory Authority

Program Overview

  • Administration: Dual — federal SSA administers Mandatory, Blind, DP, and FLH categories; Iowa HHS administers RCF, IHHRC, and SMME.
  • Funding: State funds (supplement paid on top of federal SSI).
  • Agency: Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS, formerly DHS; reorganized 2023).
  • Statutory name in code: ia_ssa (SSA = State Supplementary Assistance per Iowa Code Ch 249 title; "SSP" is colloquial only).
  • Current caseload: 5,281 recipients in 2011 per SSA State Assistance Programs report (last year SSA published state-level counts).

Six Modeled Supplement Categories

Category Type Amount Source
Blind Flat $22/month IAC 441—52.1(4)
Dependent Person (DP) Income-difference, 5 configs $1,470–$3,031/month standard (2025–2026) IAC 441—52.1(2)
Family-Life Home (FLH) Income-difference Standard $1,129 (2025) / $1,156 (2026); max supplement $142 IAC 441—52.1(1)
In-Home HRC (IHHRC) Cost-based (capped) $480.55 single / $961.10 couple per month IAC 441—177.4(1)(f)
Residential Care (RCF) Cost-based per-diem $37.60/day (2025) / $38.47/day (2026) × 31 IAC 441—52.1(3)
SMME Flat $1/month IAC 441—52.1(7)

Category priority (highest to lowest, enforced in ia_ssa_category): RCF → IHHRC → FLH → DP → Blind → SMME → NONE.

Eligibility

Requirement Source How Modeled
Must be SSI-eligible (aged/blind/disabled, resources, immigration) Iowa Code §249.3; IAC 441—51.1 is_ssi_eligible
Must receive SSI or be income-eligible but-for excess income Iowa Code §249.3(2), §249.3(3) income-difference formulas using uncapped_ssi
Must reside in Iowa IAC 441—51.6 defined_for = StateCode.IA
Resources ≤ $2,000 individual / $3,000 couple 6-B manual p.2 federal SSI resources/limit (identical limits)
Category-specific living arrangement / demographic per category rule input booleans (resides in FLH/RCF, needs IHHRC, has dependent, has full Medicaid + Part B)

Benefit Amounts (Iowa HHS SSA page + 6-B manual)

Blind — IAC 441—52.1(4)

Period Amount
2017-07-01+ $22/month (frozen in IAC rule text)

Dependent Person — IAC 441—52.1(2), 6-B manual p.16–26, Iowa HHS 2026 page

Configuration 2025 Standard 2026 Standard
Aged/disabled client + dependent $1,470 $1,512
Aged/disabled client + A/D spouse + dependent $1,953 $2,009
Blind client + dependent $1,492 $1,534
Blind client + A/D spouse + dependent $1,975 $3,031 ⚠ see verification TODO
Blind client + blind spouse + dependent $1,997 $2,053
Max per-person payment cap $503 $518
Dependent's countable income limit $503 $518

Family-Life Home — IAC 441—52.1(1), 6-B manual p.26

Component 2025 2026
Assistance standard (total) $1,129 $1,156
Personal needs allowance $126 $130
Max supplement (caps at $142, not $162, to offset SSI $20 disregard) $142 $142

In-Home Health-Related Care — IAC 441—177.4(1)(f) (frozen)

Component Amount
Max cost-of-care single $480.55/month
Max cost-of-care couple (both need care) $961.10/month

Residential Care Facility — IAC 441—52.1(3), IL 2024-12-30

Component 2025 2026
Max cost-related per diem $37.60/day $38.47/day
Personal needs allowance $126 $130
Days multiplier 31 31

SMME — IAC 441—52.1(7) (frozen)

Component Amount
Supplement $1/month (paid quarterly, modeled as $1/month)

Couple treatment: DP and FLH use per-couple configurations with both spouses eligible; RCF/IHHRC use per-person cost caps; Blind/SMME use individual flat amounts.

COLA: Annual, effective January 1, per IAC 441—52.1 introductory text and Iowa Code §249.9A (for RCF PNA, new in 2024). Blind ($22), IHHRC caps ($480.55/$961.10), and SMME ($1) are frozen in IAC rule text (no COLA).

Not Modeled (by design)

What Source Why Excluded
Mandatory State Supplement (MSS) Iowa Code §249.3(1); IAC 441—52.1(6) Closed December 1973 grandfather cohort; no input data in PolicyEngine
SMME SGA test IAC 441—51.7 SGA not modeled in PolicyEngine
Physician certification for IHHRC (Form 470-0673) IAC 441—177.6 Administrative verification
IHHRC 5-step disregard cascade (unmet medical needs) IAC 441—177.4(1)(f) uncapped_ssi > 0 proxy covers federal SSI disregards; state-specific unmet-medical disregards require inputs not in PolicyEngine
RCF pre-2017-07-01 flat $17.86/day branch IAC 441—52.1(3) Outside historical scope; program coverage starts 2017-07-01
Apply-for-other-benefits rule IAC 441—51.2 Administrative
SSN requirement IAC 441—51.9 Administrative
SMME income band (120% FPL to Medicaid limit) Iowa Code §249.3(4); IAC 441—51.7 Iowa Medicaid income-limit variable not available
IHHRC home maintenance allowances ($967/$1,450/$483) 6-B manual p.32 Equal federal SSI FBR — already handled by federal SSI calc
2012-2023 historical rate separate entries N/A Not separately verifiable — Wayback snapshots of Iowa HHS rates page return 404 for those years; values carry from 2017-07-01 entry via PolicyEngine date-carry

Files

policyengine_us/parameters/gov/states/ia/hhs/ssa/
  blind.yaml
  smme.yaml
  dp/
    assistance_standard.yaml       # breakdown by ia_ssa_dp_configuration enum
    dependent_income_limit.yaml
    max_per_person_cap.yaml
  flh/
    assistance_standard.yaml
    max_supplement.yaml
    personal_needs_allowance.yaml
  ihhrc/
    max_cost_single.yaml
    max_cost_couple.yaml
  rcf/
    days_multiplier.yaml
    max_per_diem.yaml
    personal_needs_allowance.yaml

policyengine_us/variables/gov/states/ia/hhs/ssa/
  ia_ssa.py
  ia_ssa_eligible.py
  ia_ssa_category.py
  ia_ssa_resources_eligible.py
  ia_ssa_blind_supplement.py
  dp/
    ia_ssa_dp_configuration.py
    ia_ssa_dp_supplement.py
    ia_ssa_dp_has_eligible_dependent.py
    ia_ssa_dp_dependent_countable_income.py
  flh/
    ia_ssa_flh_supplement.py
    ia_ssa_resides_in_family_life_home.py
  ihhrc/
    ia_ssa_ihhrc_supplement.py
    ia_ssa_ihhrc_cost_of_care.py
    ia_ssa_needs_in_home_health_related_care.py
  rcf/
    ia_ssa_rcf_supplement.py
    ia_ssa_rcf_cost_per_diem.py
    ia_ssa_resides_in_residential_care_facility.py
  smme/
    ia_ssa_smme_supplement.py
    ia_ssa_smme_eligible.py
    ia_ssa_has_full_medicaid.py
    ia_ssa_has_medicare_part_b.py

policyengine_us/tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/ia/hhs/ssa/
  (15 YAML test files covering 51 test cases — unit per category, integration with real income, category priority, transition boundaries, historical effective date)

policyengine_us/parameters/gov/household/household_state_benefits.yaml   [modified: adds ia_ssa to 2023 and 2024 date entries]
policyengine_us/variables/household/income/spm_unit/spm_unit_benefits.py [modified: adds ia_ssa to BENEFITS list]
changelog.d/ia-ssp.added.md

Historical Coverage

Parameters start at 2017-07-01 — the statutory effective date when IAC 441—52.1(3) removed the RCF flat-per-diem option and moved to cost-related-only reimbursement, aligning the entire program implementation with the post-2017 regulatory regime.

The 2017-07-01 entry uses the earliest-verified Iowa HHS rates (the 2024-published values preserved in the 6-B manual and Wayback snapshots). PolicyEngine date-carry applies these values to 2017-2023 simulations. Updates are added at 2025-01-01 and 2026-01-01 where rates change. This approach follows agent-lessons guidance against encoding unverified historical values.

2012-2016 and pre-2017 rates are not encoded — Wayback snapshots of the Iowa DHS SSA page return 404 for those years, and SSA stopped publishing state-by-state SSP reports after 2011. Future PRs may backdate if Iowa HHS provides historical records.

2026 DP Typo Verification Note

The 2026 DP configuration (d) "Blind Client + Aged/Disabled Spouse + Dependent Relative" shows $3,031 on the Iowa HHS SSA page — a 53% jump from 2025's $1,975, while all other 2026 DP values reflect a ~2.8% COLA (expected ~$2,031). Per user scope decision, the $3,031 value is encoded as published, with a YAML comment flagging the suspected transposition typo. Reviewer action: verify against Iowa HHS bulletin before final merge.

Verification TODO

  • Verify 2026 DP config (d) "Blind + A/D spouse + dep" value ($3,031 as published vs expected ~$2,031 by COLA)
  • Verify 6-B manual rate amounts against Iowa HHS bulletin for 2025 and 2026
  • Consider backdating parameters to 2012-2023 if Iowa HHS can provide historical rate records
  • CI passes

Test plan

  • 51 tests pass across 15 YAML files — unit tests per category, integration tests with real social_security/employment_income inputs (not bypassing federal SSI), category priority tests, 2024→2025 and 2025→2026 transition boundary tests, 2017-07-01 effective-date test
  • CI passes

Key Citations

hua7450 added 2 commits April 16, 2026 12:59
@hua7450
Initialize Iowa SSP branch
7c38911
@hua7450
Implement Iowa State Supplementary Assistance (SSA)
1c921b4 
Adds Iowa SSA (Iowa Code Ch 249; IAC 441 Chs 50-52, 54, 177) covering:
- Blind supplement (flat $22/month)
- Dependent Person (DP) supplement (5 household configurations)
- Family-Life Home (FLH) supplement (max $142/month)
- In-Home Health-Related Care (IHHRC) supplement (cost-based, max $480.55/$961.10)
- Residential Care Facility (RCF) supplement (cost-related per diem)
- Supplement for Medicare and Medicaid Eligibles (SMME) (flat $1/month)

Closes PolicyEngine#7733
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codecov bot commented Apr 16, 2026

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 98.02%. Comparing base (46eaaf1) to head (1c921b4).
⚠️ Report is 36 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files 
@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main    #8017      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   94.82%   98.02%   +3.19%     
==========================================
  Files           5       22      +17     
  Lines          58      304     +246     
  Branches        2        2              
==========================================
+ Hits           55      298     +243     
- Misses          1        6       +5     
+ Partials        2        0       -2
Flag Coverage Δ
unittests 98.02% <100.00%> (+3.19%) ⬆️

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Implement Iowa State Supplemental Payment (SSP)

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