SSA to Remove Barriers to Accessing SSI Payments

Author: U.S. Social Security Administration
Published: 27 Mar 2024 - Updated: 29 Apr 2024
Publication Details: Peer-Reviewed, Announcement

Contents: Synopsis - Definition - Introduction - Main - Related Publications

Synopsis: U.S. Department of Social Security announces first of several updates to the Supplemental Security Income regulations that will help people receiving and applying for SSI.

Topic Definition: Final Rule

After receiving public feedback on a proposed rule through a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), an administrative agency issues a final rule, detailing new or updated requirements along with their implementation date. This final rule may also entail the elimination of certain requirements. Additionally, it highlights significant substantive concerns raised by commentators in response to the NPRM and provides the agency's corresponding responses.

Introduction

Today, 27th March, 2024, the Social Security Administration published a final rule, "Omitting Food from In-Kind Support and Maintenance (ISM) Calculations." The final rule announces the first of several updates to the agency's Supplemental Security Income (SSI) regulations that will help people receiving and applying for SSI.

Main Content

"A vital part of our mission is helping people access crucial benefits, including SSI," said Martin O'Malley, Commissioner of Social Security. "Simplifying our policies is a common-sense solution that reduces the burden on the public and agency staff and helps promote equity by removing barriers to accessing payments."

SSI provides monthly payments to adults and children with a disability or blindness, and to adults aged 65 and older, who have limited income and resources. SSI benefits help pay for basic needs like rent, food, clothing, and medicine. People applying for and receiving SSI must meet eligibility requirements, including income and resource limits. Under our old rules, ISM includes food, shelter, or both a person receives - the agency counts ISM as unearned income, which may affect a person's eligibility or reduce their payment amount.

Under the final rule, beginning September 30, 2024, the agency will no longer include food in ISM calculations. The new policy removes a critical barrier for SSI eligibility due to an applicant's or recipient's receipt of informal food assistance from friends, family, and community networks of support.

The new policy further helps in several important ways: the change is easier to understand and use by applicants, recipients, and agency employees; applicants and recipients have less information to report about food assistance received from family and friends, removing a significant source of burden; reducing month-to-month variability in payment amounts will improve payment accuracy; and the agency will see administrative savings because less time will be spent administering food ISM.

The agency continuously examines programmatic policy and makes regulatory and sub-regulatory changes as appropriate.

Attribution/Source(s): This peer reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by U.S. Social Security Administration and published on 27 Mar 2024, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.