It was expected to take time for States to develop and implement home and community-based
programs. Therefore, the Secretary temporarily established a Board within the Department
that determined whether it would be inequitable to apply the usual SSI deeming rules
in particular cases. Cases for which the Board approved a waiver are called “special deeming cases.”
The term of the Intradepartmental Review Board expired on December 31, 1984. No new
cases were accepted, but waiver determinations were made for cases pending with the
Board on December 31, 1984.
The waiver procedure was an exercise of the Secretary's discretion under section 1614
of the SSACT. The SSACT only provides this discretion in parent-to-child and spouse-to-spouse
deeming situations. Therefore, these instructions do not apply to sponsor-to-noncitizen
or essential person deeming cases.
A waiver of the usual deeming rules maintains SSI eligibility without unnecessary
SSI program expenditures, because the Board decided to apply the deeming rules to
the extent necessary to pay a minimal amount of SSI or federally administered State
supplement. This generally results in payment of $1 in SSI or federally administered
State supplement. However, as the retrospective monthly accounting (RMA) computation
rules apply, there may be some months in which a higher payment is made. Also, the
Board may have directed in its decision that a higher payment be made.