How the Social Security Administration will expand access to SSI benefits

The Social Security Administration is preparing to implement new rules to make it easier for recipients to access certain benefits and increase the payments some can receive.

The new changes affect Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, which provides more than 7 million Americans with monthly benefit checks. These benefits are for people aged 65 and over, or adults and children who are disabled or blind and have little or no income or resources.

“We already know that the benefit amounts available to people on SSI are incredibly low,” said Lydia Brown, director of public policy at the National Disability Institute.

“They may not be as high as they could be to fully account for people’s needs,” Brown said.

Learn more about personal finance:
As Social Security funds face insolvency, here’s what to watch
Why Most of Warren Buffett’s Wealth Came After Age 65
Advice regarding 401(k) rollovers is about to experience a big change. here’s why

The maximum federal monthly SSI benefit is currently $943 per eligible individual and $1,415 for an eligible individual and their eligible spouse.

The changes, set to take effect Sept. 30, are a “positive step in the right direction,” Brown said.

The agency announced a new rule Thursday to expand the definition of a household receiving public assistance. Now, households that receive payments from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and those in which not all members receive public assistance will be included.

With this change, more people could qualify for SSI, current recipients could see higher payments and people who live in households receiving public assistance could have fewer reporting requirements, according to the Administration. social Security.

The previous policy required all household members to receive public assistance.

A public assistance household will be defined as one that includes both an SSI applicant or recipient, as well as at least one other member who receives one or more forms of public means-tested income maintenance payments. .

“By simplifying our policies and including an additional program for low-income families, such as SNAP, we are removing significant barriers to accessing SSI,” said Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley , in a press release. “These changes promote greater equity in our programs.”

Nearly 304,000 of the 7.5 million SSI recipients lived in a household receiving public assistance as of January 2023, according to the Social Security Administration.

Implementation of the rule could allow about 277,000 federal SSI recipients – about 4% of all recipients – to benefit from an increase in their monthly payments starting in fiscal year 2033, the agency estimates. An additional 109,000 people – a 1% increase – could become eligible for federal SSI payments who otherwise would not have benefited under current rules.

The definition of a household on public assistance hasn’t been updated in a very long time, according to Darcy Milburn, director of social security and health policy at The Arc, a nonprofit organization in serving people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

“I would call it just a good policy, common sense change to update that definition,” Milburn said.

Additionally, SSI continues to operate in many ways under rules designed in the 1980s, said Brown of the National Disability Institute.

SNAP is the first public income maintenance benefit to be added to the definition of households receiving public assistance since 1980, according to the Social Security Administration.

The Social Security Administration is also working to address outdated practices through two other rules set to take effect September 30.

One change will expand the SSI rental assistance policy to make it less likely that renting at a reduced rate or other rental assistance will affect a recipient’s SSI eligibility or monthly payment amount. This policy, already available in seven states, will apply nationally.

Another change will make the SSA no longer count food assistance toward the support recipients receive from other parties, which could reduce the amount of their SSI benefits.

The Social Security Administration tracks the resources SSI recipients receive outside of their federal benefits, officially known as in-kind support and maintenance, or ISM.

The goal of ISM is to reduce SSI benefits if a recipient receives support from family and friends by treating that as unearned income, Milburn said.

This support can reduce an individual’s monthly benefit by up to a third, Milburn said. And because SSA tracks that support every month, that’s a lot for the agency to keep track of, she said.

When the changes take effect this fall, SSI recipients should notice that they will have less paperwork to complete, receive more accurate monthly payments and face fewer administrative burdens, Milburn said.