Social Security Is Simplifying Supplemental Security Income Applications

A Social Security card sits alongside checks from the U.S. Treasury in Washington on Oct. 14, 2021. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced a new multiyear initiative to simplify how people apply for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) by offering a streamlined online application process.

The SSA’s iClaim portal allows people to apply for various Social Security benefits online. The new initiative “aims to establish a fully online, simplified iClaim application that leverages user-tested, plain-language questions, prepopulated answers where possible, seamless step-by-step transitions, and more,” the agency said in an Aug. 27 statement.

The SSA expects the online application to reduce the time it takes for individuals to apply for benefits and for the agency to make initial claim decisions.

In the first phase, the iClaim expansion will be available “to first-time applicants between the ages of 18 and almost 65” who have never been married and are applying for SSI and social security benefits. This is expected to be made available starting in December.

The SSA plans to implement the iClaim expansion for all applicants in the second phase, which is scheduled for a late 2025 release.

“Over the past year, we have asked many applicants and advocates—as well as our workforce—how we could make the SSI application process easier and simpler. Now, we are taking an important first step to do just that,” Martin O’Malley, commissioner of Social Security, said in a statement.

“People in our communities who need this crucial safety net deserve the dignity of an application process that is less burdensome and more accessible than what we now have, and we’re committed to achieving that vision over the next few years.”

When people apply through iClaim under the new initiative, the system pulls in their personal information already present with the agency and automatically answers some of the questions regarding disability insurance benefits (DIB), according to a Federal Register filing. The applicants would then need to answer the simplified eligibility-related questions.

The system then proceeds to additional steps, such as providing medical information and signing a medical release.

“This process will be seamless to the applicant, as the iClaim system will take them from page to page without interruption,” the Federal Register stated.

Once the required information is submitted, the SSA will review it and send the application to the Disability Determination Services (DDS) to determine the claim’s validity. The DDS then makes a decision.

The SSA noted that the new process won’t require people to visit a field office to sign their applications.

“Rather, SSA will mail a copy of the third party’s responses to the DIB and SSI application questions to the applicant, and the applicant may either sign the application and return it via mail, or wait for an SSA employee to call them to give verbal attestation in lieu of a wet signature,” the Federal Register stated.

A wet signature is a signature on a paper document.

The agency stated that it plans to incorporate lessons learned from the iClaim expansion into simplifying SSI applications for in-person, phone, mobile, and paper-based processes.

Improving Ease of Access

Last year, a group of senators urged the agency to simplify the SSI application process.

SSI claimants face “significant administrative barriers” in accessing benefits under the program, the senators said in an August 2023 letter. They pointed out that a form evaluating nonmedical eligibility criteria, for instance, is 20 pages long.

The COVID-19 pandemic “exacerbated those barriers” by restricting in-person services, while low staffing at the SSA adds to the problem, according to the senators.

“It is more important than ever that the SSI program is modernized and accessible to all Americans, which both the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the Social Security Advisory Board identified as a key tool to expand access for disabled individuals seeking to apply for SSI benefits while lowering administrative costs,” the lawmakers wrote.

The SSA has taken other steps to simplify people’s access to benefits. In May 2023, the agency announced that it was expanding outreach to those in financial distress who may be eligible for SSI.

The agency identified underserved communities in rural and urban regions with the greatest decline in SSI applications since the COVID-19 pandemic and reached out to eligible individuals.

“Underserved communities face additional challenges, like unreliable or no access to the internet and computers, that widen the divide,“ Kilolo Kijakazi, then-acting commissioner of Social Security, said at the time. ”Social Security’s campaign strives to reach people in their communities to tell them about the eligibility criteria for SSI.”

In July, the SSA stated that beneficiaries would have to start using a Login.gov account to access the “my Social Security” online platform. The transition followed the agency’s attempt to “simplify the sign-in experience and align with federal authentication standards.”

In February, the SSA introduced the SecurityStat website, which tracks the agency’s progress toward achieving customer service goals and makes such information available to the public. The site allows people to view the SSA’s performance, such as the average processing time for disability determinations.