California Department of Social Services - State Hearings Division
Notes from the Training Bureau - May 28, 1999

When a person applies for Interim Assistance (IA) (also known as General Relief or General Assistance), such payments are made by a county totally with county funds. He/she also signs an interim assistance (IA) agreement. In the agreement, the IA recipient agrees that if he/she receives SSI/SSP benefits, the county will reimburse itself from the initial SSI/SSP payment for all IA the person received and the remaining SSI/SSP funds will be distributed to the claimant.

In reimbursing itself from the SSI/SSP payment, a county may not deduct the cost of any health care premium the person received while enrolled in a county health plan associated with the IA benefits, regardless of whether the claimant used the health plan for any medical services.

In a letter from the Social Security Administration to the CDSS Adult Services Division dated January 18, 1994, the Social Security Administration made clear that Los Angeles County’s practice of withholding a $73 per month premium from SSI/SSP Interim Assistance Reimbursement (IAR) is in conflict with the purpose of IAR and advised the CDSS to tell Los Angeles County to refund the erroneously withheld charges to affected SSI/SSP recipients.

On May 18, 1994 the Social Security Administration wrote another letter to the CDSS reaffirming its January 18, 1994 letter and stated "Los Angeles County should not recover health benefit costs from SSI/SSP under the interim assistance reimbursement agreement." The letter added that any medical benefits provided under the county health plan is in lieu of medical assistance under Title XIX of the Social Security Act and the county’s health care costs are reimbursable through the recipient’s retroactive receipt of Medi-Cal benefits (that would be received with the SSI/SSP benefits).

This policy has not changed since 1994.