The Social Security Administration (SSA) recently announced a fairly significant change, expected to be implemented in December 2024, that will allow certain Americans to apply for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) completely online. This change, designed for years by the SSA, seeks to facilitate access to these benefits for applicants who meet specific criteria, as reported by the SSA last Tuesday.
The new modality will be available to those who apply for the first time, are between 18 and 64 years old, have never been married and are simultaneously applying for Social Security and SSI benefits. These individuals will be able to access an iClaim application process that has been redesigned to be more accessible and easier to use.
Apply Easily and Efficiently for Supplemental Security Income
According to the SSA, it will soon be possible to apply online for SSI, and will include features such as questions formulated in plain language and tested by users, preloaded answers when possible, and step-by-step transitions that seek to avoid any type of inconvenience. These improvements are designed to reduce the time applicants spend in the process and speed up the processing of initial decisions, and were carefully designed with the help of user experience (UX) professionals.
Today, applying for SSI can only be done in person, over the phone, through mobile devices, and through outdated paper-based processes. SSA hopes that this new option will expand inclusion to those who qualify but, for example, have difficulty attending in person to apply for SSI, while simplifying and making the application process more efficient for all users.
How to Apply Online for SSI Using iClaim
SSA will first implement the application system for first-time applicants, people between the ages of 18 and 65, who have never been married and who are simultaneously applying for Social Security retirement benefits. Remember that SSI is designed for those people who, meeting the eligibility requirements, need additional income to cover all their living expenses.
In the second phase of the rollout, currently scheduled for late 2025, the agency plans to expand online SSI application to all applicants. At this time, the system has not yet been migrated until the SSA reports that this has been done.
“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,” Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley said in a press release.
“Subsequent SSI simplification steps will incorporate lessons learned from the iClaim expansion into in-person, phone, mobile, and paper-based processes for SSI applications,” SSA said in the release. “As part of that, the agency plans to develop a separate simplified child SSI application.”
How Many Beneficiaries Does the Social Security Administration Have?
The breakdown of the data revealed that of the 72.4 million total beneficiaries in July 2024, 55.5 million were people over 65 years of age. Of these, 53 million received only Social Security, while just over 1 million depended only on SSI. Another 1.4 million received both benefits.
On the other hand, 11.4 million beneficiaries were people under 65 years of age with some disability. Among this group, 6.4 million received only Social Security, 3.8 million received only SSI, and 1.1 million received both benefits.