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How This Screening Works

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What We Evaluate

SSI (Supplemental Security Income) — 5 Checks

  1. Age, Blindness, or Disability — Age 65+, blind, or disabled (SI 00501.001)
  2. Citizenship & Residency — Explained to user; user self-assesses (SI 00501.100)
  3. Resource Limits — $2,000 individual / $3,000 couple (SI 01110.003)
  4. Income Limits — Earned and unearned income with exclusions (SI 00810.001)
  5. US Residence — Must reside in the US (SI 00501.010)

SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) — 4 Checks

  1. Work Credits — Based on age and work history (DI 10105.060)
  2. Not at Retirement Age — Must be under full retirement age
  3. Substantial Gainful Activity — Current earnings below SGA threshold (DI 10501.015)
  4. Disability — User self-reports; SSA makes medical determination

What We Explain But Don’t Evaluate

  • Citizenship/immigration status — We explain the rules and let you self-assess. We never ask for or store immigration details.

What Only SSA Can Determine

  • Medical disability — Requires evidence review by Disability Determination Services. Our screening accepts your self-report but cannot evaluate medical eligibility.

Our Rules Engine

  • 53 DMN decision files encoding rules from the POMS
  • Uses Decision Model and Notation (DMN) — an open, auditable standard for encoding business rules
  • Each rule traces back to a specific POMS section published by SSA
  • Audited against PolicyEngine (the leading open-source US benefits calculator) — our implementation is more complete on SSDI eligibility, resource exclusions, and citizenship categories

How the AI Screener Works

  1. You describe your situation in plain language
  2. The AI extracts relevant facts (age, income, resources, work history)
  3. Those facts are sent to our rules engine — the AI does not determine eligibility
  4. The rules engine evaluates each check against POMS criteria
  5. Results show each check with the actual numbers and thresholds used

Important Limitations

  • This is a preliminary screening, not an SSA determination
  • Only SSA can make final eligibility decisions
  • Medical disability requires DDS evaluation
  • Some factors (spousal deeming, parent-to-child deeming, felony disqualifications) are not yet implemented
  • Income calculations use standard exclusions; individual circumstances may vary
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