The SSP applicant/recipient has the same right to appeal and have a fair hearing as any other cash assistance applicant or recipient. The CAO and the CU are responsible for helping the individual with the hearing request and may not limit or interfere with the right to appeal in any way. See Chapter 870, Appeal and Fair Hearing.
An explanation of the right to appeal appears on client notices as well as on the SSI/SSP and SSP-Only stuffers included with each system-generated notice for A, J and M categories.
If an individual disagrees with a determination made by the SSA on eligibility for SSI, the individual must file an appeal with SSA. SSP will be adjusted accordingly when new information is received from the SDX file.
The SSP CU determines eligibility for SSP-Only and must be involved in appeals for SSP-Only budgets. An individual wishing to appeal SSP-Only determinations may contact the CAO. The CAO will offer the appellant the opportunity to have a pre-hearing conference, either by telephone or face-to-face. The pre hearing conference does not affect the individual’s right to have a hearing and does not affect the requirements for submitting requests timely to the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals. A representative of the CU may be involved through telephone participation due to travel and time considerations, as there are 67 counties and one CU. The CAO and the CU must maintain communications concerning SSP cases.
A representative from the CU will participate in actual SSP-Only hearings. If a face-to-face hearing is requested, a representative from DHS must attend. Generally, this will be a CU representative, although a CAO representative will attend in the event that the CU cannot. In that instance, the CU will participate via telephone, as long as the appellant agrees that telephone participation is sufficient.
The CAO will handle appeals of combined SSI/SSP cases. A system generated notice is sent to individuals whose SSP payment has changed or stopped as a result of a change registered in the SDX file from SSA. In order for the CAO to justify the decision at an appeal hearing, the appellant must agree that the information on the SDX is correct. If the individual does not agree that the SDX is accurate, the CAO will assist the individual in resolving the discrepancy with the SSA. Any discussion of the accuracy of the SDX information should occur before any appeal hearing.
NOTE: Â An SSI recipient who continues to receive SSI pending a decision of an appeal with the SSA will continue to receive SSP. SSP payments also continue when there is a timely appeal of the SSP benefit regardless of the status of the SSI payment. In these instances, the CAO should explain that eligibility for SSP is dependent on eligibility for SSI and that if the appellant loses the appeal, an overpayment exists for the SSP payments.
Reissued September 11, 2012, replacing March 16, 2012