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Background Virginia’s AG program is an outgrowth of the federally mandated State SSI Supplementation Program that began when SSI was implemented to replace Old Age Assistance (OAA), Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled (APTD), and Aid to the Blind (AB) Programs that had existed under Titles I, X, and XIV of the Social Security Act. Those benefits were paid at a higher rate than was to be paid under SSI, meaning that individuals who were transferred from them to SSI would have received a cut in benefits. To prevent this, the Mandatory State SSI Supplementation Program began. States were required to develop a program that would supplement the SSI payments of those who would have been negatively impacted or the states would lose Medicaid funding. Virginia’s response was to establish the AG program. AG initially covered only those that were mandated to be covered SSI recipients. It was later expanded to include individuals who were ineligible for SSI due to excess income but who met all other SSI eligibility requirements. Legal Base In 1972 Public Law 92-603 abolished the Old Age Assistance (OAA), Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled (APTD), and Aid to the Blind (AB) Programs that had existed under Titles I, X, and XIV of the Social Security Acts and established the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Program under Title XVI. The SSI program was implemented in 1974. A later amendment to Title XVI required that the individual income of aged, blind, or disabled persons be maintained at December 1973