SSA: Proposed Rule Omitting Food from In-Kind Support and Maintenance Calculations

From Family Voices National

The Social Security Administration (SSA) released a proposed rule that would no longer consider food expenses when calculating in-kind support and maintenance to determine benefits for people who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI). SSA reduces the amount of SSI for which an individual is eligible based on the in-kind support and maintenance they receive.

An SSI applicant or beneficiary receives in-kind support and maintenance when someone else provides or contributes towards their food or shelter. In those cases, the SSA considers how much someone else is contributing to that person’s food or shelter costs when determining that person’s SSI benefits. Removing food from in-kind support and maintenance calculations would simplify benefit calculations for many low-income people with disabilities and older adults who receive SSI and would lower or eliminate benefit reductions for some.

In-kind support and maintenance benefit calculations vary depending on whether someone lives on their own but receives help from someone else with food and shelter costs or lives with someone else and receives food and shelter from that person or other members of the household. SSA proposes to keep food-related questions only for the purposes of determining which category someone falls into, not for the purposes of determining someone’s benefits. SSA is soliciting comments on alternative ways to make this determination. SSA also seeks comments on how to make the rule easier to understand.

Comments can be submitted online or by fax or mail until April 17, 2023.