INFANT MORTALITY AMONG SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME APPLICANTS.

We explore neonatal and infant mortality rates among children who apply for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments before reaching 1 year of age. We examine mortality-rate trends across several SSI policy regimes, and compare SSI applicants with the U.S. population overall. We also examine selected characteristics of infant SSI applicants, focusing specifically on the cohort of children who applied in 2015. We find that neonatal mortality among SSI applicants closely follows national trends, but that infant mortality among SSI applicants is roughly five times that of all children. Among children awarded SSI before reaching age 1 in 2015, those diagnosed with low birth weight are less likely to die by age 1 than are children with other impairments. Children living in Medicaid institutions have the highest infant mortality rates while children living with their parents have the lowest mortality rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]