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As one Social Security program marks a 50-year anniversary, here's how benefits may change [1]

['Lorie Konish']

Date: 2024-06-11

Martonaphoto | Moment | Getty Images

Updates aimed at improving benefit access

The Social Security Administration is taking steps to try to reduce some of the restrictions that come with SSI benefits. The agency has announced that it will no longer count food as unearned income — formally known as in-kind support and maintenance, or ISM — which penalizes beneficiaries when their family provides dinner for them, for example. It is also expanding the rental subsidy policy for SSI applicants and beneficiaries, as well as the definition of a public assistance household. Those changes, which are slated to go into effect starting Sept. 30, should allow more people to access and qualify for SSI, O'Malley said. Moreover, the agency has also made it easier for beneficiaries to request waivers for overpayments, or excess benefits they may have received. It also increased the SSI underpayment threshold to $15,000 from $5,000, which has helped resolve backlogged cases.

Congress may implement more changes

Congress may further improve the program through additional reforms. By bringing the Social Security Administration's operating overhead up to where it was a decade ago, the agency could further work to alleviate disability application approval and phone assistance wait times, according to O'Malley. "It would not add a single penny to the federal debt, because you already paid for it," O'Malley said. Moreover, experts contend raising the SSI's asset thresholds — which have not been increased in about 40 years — could help beneficiaries achieve better financial security.

Two bills in Congress have proposed significant SSI reforms. Democrats have proposed the Supplemental Security Income Restoration Act, which calls for increasing the program's asset limits, setting the minimum benefit at 100% of the federal poverty level, streamlining the claiming process and getting rid of certain reductions in benefits. Another bipartisan proposal — the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act — would increase the asset limits to $10,000 per individual and $20,000 per couple, up from $2,000 and $3,000, respectively. Consequently, it would eliminate the marriage penalty current beneficiaries face. "There is clear momentum behind the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act," Emerson Sprick, associate director of the Bipartisan Policy Center's Economic Policy Program, said at the NASI event. The question is whether Congress can attach it to another legislative effort — perhaps related to spending — to get the proposed changes passed in the near future, he said.

Broader updates needed, advocates say

Advocates say further loosening the program's current rules would have dramatic positive effects. Under current limitations, at work, SSI beneficiaries may not be able to contribute to a 401(k) or earn raises. Students may not be able to take a paid internship for fear the income could affect their benefits, said Rylin Rodgers, disability policy advisor at Microsoft. "In order to be successful, [we] need disabled workers in all job types," Rodgers said. "SSI, while critical, is at an influx point where in some cases it's creating a block to that talent," she said. Individuals who receive both Social Security and SSI benefits may see reductions to their payments. Loosening those rules would help lift more elderly and disabled individuals out of poverty, according to Wendell Primus, a visiting fellow at Brookings and former senior policy advisor on health and budget issues to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. SSI benefit amounts could also be enhanced more broadly for all beneficiaries, said Tracey Gronniger, managing director for the economic security team at Justice in Aging, an advocacy group for fighting senior poverty.

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[1] Url: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/11/supplemental-security-income-marks-50-years-how-benefits-may-change.html

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