Implement Georgia State Supplementary Payment (SSP)

[hua7450]

Summary

Implements Georgia's State Supplementary Payment (SSP) — a flat monthly supplement for SSI recipients residing in Medicaid facilities (federal Living Arrangement Code D).

Closes #7884

Regulatory Authority

• SSA State Assistance Programs for SSI Recipients, January 2011 — Georgia (via Wayback Machine; SSA blocks direct access)
• Georgia DFCS PAMMS Policy 2578: SSI Recipients
• CMS State Plan Amendment GA 18-0004: Personal Needs Allowance Rate Increase

Program Overview

• Administration: State-administered (Georgia Department of Human Services / DFCS)
• Funding: State funds (both administration and assistance)
• Current caseload: 2,929 recipients (January 2011, SSA report); expenditures $587,100 (CY 2010)
• Scope: SSI recipients in Medicaid facilities only — Georgia's simplest possible SSP (one living arrangement, flat dollar amount)
• Statutory basis: Georgia House Bill 1027 (FY2007 appropriations), line 2496

Eligibility

Requirement	Source	How Modeled
Must be SSI-eligible (aged/blind/disabled + resources + immigration)	SSA 2011 GA report ("All SSI recipients"); PAMMS 2578	is_ssi_eligible
Must actually receive SSI (income not too high)	Federal SSI income rules	uncapped_ssi > 0
Must reside in Georgia	PAMMS 2578	defined_for = StateCode.GA
Must reside in Medicaid facility (federal Code D)	SSA 2011 GA report; PAMMS 2578	ga_ssp_in_medicaid_facility (new bool input)
Resource test follows federal SSI rules	SSA 2011 GA report ("Federal SSI regulations apply")	Delegated to is_ssi_eligible
Income exclusions follow federal SSI rules	SSA 2011 GA report ("Federal SSI regulations apply")	Delegated to uncapped_ssi (SSI benefit formula minus countable income)

Benefit Amounts (PAMMS 2578, SSA 2011 Table 1)

Era	Effective Date	Individual (monthly)	Couple (monthly)	Source
1st	2006-07-01	$20	$40	SSA 2007–2011 reports, PAMMS 2578
2nd	2018-07-01	$35	$70	PAMMS 2578, CMS SPA GA 18-0004
3rd	2019-07-01	$40	$80	PAMMS 2578

Couple treatment: Each eligible person receives the individual rate (couple = 2x individual). Confirmed by SSA 2011 Table 1 ($40 couple = 2x$20) and CMS SPA ($130 couple PNA = 2x$65).
COLA: None — amounts change only by legislative action ("Passalong method: Maintaining payment levels").

Not Modeled (by design)

What	Source	Why Excluded
Approved Level of Care requirement	PAMMS 2578	Clinical/medical determination, not simulatable from survey data
No asset transfer below FMV within 60 months	PAMMS 2578	Behavioral/historical determination, not simulatable
Federal Medicaid facility SSI rate ($30/individual)	42 USC 1382(e)(1)(B)	Informational only — already modeled in federal SSI parameters

Files

parameters/gov/states/ga/dhs/ssp/
  amount.yaml                          # 3 rate eras: $20/$35/$40

variables/gov/states/ga/dhs/ssp/
  ga_ssp.py                            # SPM unit total (adds=[ga_ssp_person])
  ga_ssp_person.py                     # Per-person amount (defined_for=eligible)
  ga_ssp_eligible_person.py            # Eligibility: is_ssi_eligible AND uncapped_ssi > 0 AND in_medicaid_facility
  ga_ssp_in_medicaid_facility.py       # Input variable: Medicaid facility residency (bool)

tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/ga/dhs/ssp/
  ga_ssp_eligible_person.yaml          # 12 eligibility tests (singles + couples + income levels)
  ga_ssp_person.yaml                   # 3 benefit amount tests (current, zero, first era)
  integration.yaml                     # 9 end-to-end tests (single, couple, mixed, all 3 eras, income)
  edge_cases.yaml                      # 7 tests (non-GA resident, era boundaries, mixed facility status)

Verification TODO

• Verify payment amounts against PAMMS 2578 and CMS SPA GA 18-0004
• Verify eligibility logic against SSA 2011 GA report
• Verify amounts current as of 2019-2025 (no rate change since 2019-07-01; PAMMS 2578 confirms $40 is current)
• Add ga_ssp to spm_unit_benefits.py once verified
• Add to programs.yaml program registry
• CI passes

Test plan

• 31 tests pass (12 eligibility + 3 amount + 9 integration + 7 edge cases)
• CI passes

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 100.00%. Comparing base (ac35815) to head (50b9b12).
⚠️ Report is 23 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff            @@
##              main     #7885   +/-   ##
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  Coverage   100.00%   100.00%           
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  Files            2         4    +2     
  Lines           32        42   +10     
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+ Hits            32        42   +10     

Flag	Coverage Δ
unittests	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)

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[MaxGhenis]

Follow-up fixes pushed on this branch:\n\n- changed GA SSP eligibility to key off actual receipt rather than \n- applied the federal Title XIX facility SSI cap for Georgia Medicaid-facility residents so the supplement no longer stacks on top of community-rate SSI\n- wired into the shared household/SPM benefit aggregates\n- added regression coverage for reduced-SSI facility cases and for people who are SSI-eligible but do not take up SSI\n\nLocal verification: , , and targeted All checks passed! all passed.

[MaxGhenis]

Follow-up fixes pushed on this branch:

• changed GA SSP eligibility to key off actual SSI receipt rather than uncapped_ssi
• applied the federal Title XIX facility SSI cap for Georgia Medicaid-facility residents so the supplement no longer stacks on top of community-rate SSI
• wired ga_ssp into the shared household/SPM benefit aggregates
• added regression coverage for reduced-SSI facility cases and for people who are SSI-eligible but do not take up SSI

Local verification: policyengine_us/tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/ga/dhs/ssp/integration.yaml, policyengine_us/tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/ga/dhs/ssp/ga_ssp_eligible_person.yaml, and targeted ruff check all passed.