Social Security, USDA Seek to Increase SNAP Access

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Andy Markowitz,

AARP

En español

Published December 14, 2022

The Social Security Administration (SSA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are strengthening a long-standing joint effort to help low-income older Americans, people with disabilities and those with impaired vision get federal help to better afford food.

The initiative, announced on Dec. 8, aims to help more people who apply for or receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a monthly cash benefit administered by Social Security, to also enroll in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) run by USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS).

An updated memorandum of understanding between the two agencies “will improve efficiency, helping to advance food and nutrition security and reduce the hurdles families face to obtain the government assistance they need,” according to a news release.

“Partnering with USDA to test more efficient ways to apply, share information, and help SSI families apply for SNAP assistance makes it easier for people to obtain the services they need,” acting Social Security Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi says in a statement.

Under the agreement, which dates to 1977 and has been renegotiated every five years, Social Security employees can notify people applying for or getting SSI that they are eligible for SNAP and in some cases help them apply. SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, provides monthly food aid to more than 41 million people, or about one in eight U.S. residents.

SSA and USDA officials say the updated pact lays the groundwork for them to test-drive new ways to make it easier for SSI applicants to sign up for SNAP, including broader use of digital forms and telephone “signatures.” Typically, people applying for the food aid must go through a SNAP office in their state.

“Right now, I think, in many cases, they’re working with a paper-based system,” says Stacy Dean, deputy undersecretary for USDA’s Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services. “We really want to work to expand services to these low-income seniors so that it’s easier for them to apply and to obtain SNAP benefits through an SSA office.”

Social Security will share more data with FNS about how many SSI recipients participate in SNAP and when and why nonparticipants don’t make it through the application process.

Older adults missing out

SSI provides monthly benefits to more than 7.5 million U.S. residents who have disabilities, are vision-impaired or are 65 and older and have very low incomes and limited financial resources. In 2023, the maximum federal SSI payment will be $914 a month for an individual and $1,371 a month for a married couple if both spouses qualify for the program.

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Most people who receive SSI are eligible for SNAP under Agriculture Department rules. SNAP benefits average about $232 a month for individuals and $442 a month for households.

More than 70 percent of Americans 60 and older who could qualify for SNAP do not participate in the program, a July 2022 AARP study found. Researchers identified confusing and onerous application procedures as one of the reasons for low enrollment.

“Older adults face numerous barriers to accessing SNAP, including a burdensome application process, transportation challenges and confusion about program eligibility,” says Nicole Heckman, vice president for benefit access programs at the AARP Foundation. “Expanding the use of online applications and telephonic signature will remove several of the known burdens that make it difficult for older adults to enroll.”

‘A fresh take’

The updated agreement calls for the SSA and USDA to develop an online application “to make SNAP intake and processing faster” and provide ways for Social Security to better help people fill out and authenticate applications by phone, says Darren Lutz, an SSA spokesman. These improvements would initially be tested in up to five states.

The SSA will review its online tool for people to initiate an SSI claim, “to identify opportunities to include information about SNAP,” Lutz says.

The joint effort could build on a successful program California has used in recent years to expand SNAP enrollment among SSI beneficiaries, Dean says. As part of that, SSA and California’s SNAP program, called CalFresh, developed “an electronic mechanism that they think could be a platform to facilitate enrollment across the country.”

“It’s a fresh take on something that together, [SSA and USDA] have been working on for four decades,” she says. “It's a good service. We want to make it a great service.”