Legislation passed in 1996 stated that new applicants for Social Security or SSI benefits would not be eligible if drug addiction or alcoholism were material factors to their disability. Persons in this situation who had previously been approved for these payments saw their benefit payments end as of 1 January, 1997. The amount that a retired worker was allowed to earn before benefits were decreased was also raised under that legislation.

Although there have been a series of minor modifications made to the Social Security program since 1996, the program has not been changed in any meaningful way from then to the date of the writing of this Entry in January 2011.