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1141 Chapter 7:Worker guides • Section 7: OSIPM worker guides (07/2026) persons with disabilities). An individual who receives railroad retirement benefits (RRB) does not meet this requirement--it must be SSB. • The individual was eligible for and receiving SSI or state supplement payments and became ineligible for those payments after April 1977. The reason the individual became ineligible for the SSI or state supplements is not relevant and they do not have to have been continuously eligible (they could have been married and then divorced, for example.) Also, the individual must have been receiving SSI or state supplements and been eligible for SSB in the same month, prior to losing the SSI or state supplement payments. • The individual’s current Title II Social Security income would be within the SSI standard if the cost of living adjustments (COLA) were deducted from the current SSB income. • Married individuals must be income eligible independently from their spouse prior to determining financial eligibility for the financial group’s total adjusted income. • The financial group’s total adjusted income is below the current applicable OSIPM adjusted income standard:
After an individual’s SSB income is “Pickled” (and the spouse’s SSB also, if applicable, see below), the total amount of the Pickled SSB (rounded down because SSB amounts are only paid in even dollar amounts) is added to the financial group’s other countable other income (if any) to determine total countable income.
The applicable deductions are applied to determine total adjusted income. • The individual meets all other financial (resource limit) and non-financial criteria for OSIPM. The benefit of being Pickle eligible is when a Pickle-eligible individual needs long-term care services, they do not need to pay a liability when in a waivered service setting (see 461-160-0610). However, they will need to pay a liability in other care settings (for example, in a nursing facility). Determining Pickle eligibility Individuals who have never received SSI cannot be Pickle eligible. If the information is not available on the W204 screen or SOLQi, the eligibility worker will need to contact Social Security to find out what month the individual both received SSI and was eligible for SSB. If the SSB amount from that month is known, no Pickle calculation is necessary. Use the SSB from that month and add it to the individual’s current income to see if the individual’s income exceeds the SSI standard. If the individual’s spouse also had Social Security benefits at the time the individual lost SSI benefits, the spouse’s SSB amount at that time is considered the spouse’s countable income. Example 1: Gloria was eligible for both SSI and SSB in June 1999. SSI payments terminated and an award letter was provided verifying receipt of $648.00 SSB beginning in July 1999. The SSB that is being received now ($875.00) is Gloria’s only income. The current OSIPM standard is $967.00 + $20.00 (standard deduction) = $987.00. The $648.00 SSB that Gloria was eligible for in the month that SSI was also received in 1999 is less than $987.00, so Gloria is Pickle eligible. In many cases, the amount of SSB that was received in the month when the individual was simultaneously eligible for SSI is not known. When the amount of SSB from that month is unknown, the eligibility worker must use the chart from 461-135-0780 to calculate the amount. In other words, the current SSB amount must be “Pickled” to find out what it used to be. The “Pickled” amount of SSB plus the individual’s other income (countable unearned and adjusted earned) cannot exceed the current OSIPM standard plus $20.00. If the individual’s spouse also