By Victoria Richardson

When signing the Social Security Act into law on August 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt acknowledged that   

“We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.” 

Indeed, since becoming law, the Social Security Act has helped provide a stop gap between the unemployed, older adults and people with disabilities (“aged, blind, and disabled” in the law), children and extreme poverty. According to analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, benefits administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA) have lifted approximately 22 million Americans above the poverty line—including 16.3 million older adults over 65 years old and 959,000 children under the age of 18.¹   

In honor of the Social Security Act’s 90th anniversary, today is an opportunity to reflect on the goals of these key programs administered by the Act’s titular agency and the challenges limiting the SSA’s ability to meet these goals and reach all those in need.  

These issues are not insurmountable. Through advocacy, outreach, and education, we can work towards making these benefits more accessible.       

Complex and Unfair Rules 

Anyone who has dealt with SSA before likely knows that the rules for the programs are complicated, the notices are vague and confusing, and the wait times are excessively long.   

An authorized representative is someone who can help an individual apply for Social Security disability; they do not need not be an attorney, and in certain circumstances, they can be paid for their assistance. However, there is no similar system to help people resolve problems after they have been found eligible for disability benefits or old-age retirement. Complex issues can arise after an individual is approved for benefits, but there are no fees allotted to pay representatives to resolve these post-eligibility problems.  

People can have a portion of their benefits taken away because of changes in living situation, age, income, assets, and resources. This includes prolonged periods of institutionalization, like if a beneficiary spends a month in a hospital or nursing home. These rules create a balancing act for beneficiaries and their families, who must navigate complex, overlapping program requirements to avoid unexpected losses of income.  

An individual’s living situation and age will determine whether “deeming” rules or “in-kind support and maintenance” (ISM) rules apply.² For example, when a minor child receives disability benefits, a portion of their parent or guardian’s income is “deemed” to them—which means their monthly payment may be reduced according to a set of complex rules and guidelines.³  

ISM rules apply when a child with a disability reaches adulthood. Under these rules, any food and/or shelter provided to a person with a disability is counted as income, which impacts their monthly payment. The value of this support is determined based on yet another set of complicated guidelines and deducted from the beneficiary’s monthly check.⁴ This means that families caring for a minor family member with a disability who ages into adulthood are on the hook for staying informed about two separate sets of complicated rules in order to avoid being liable for an overpayment.   

Fortunately, regulatory changes from last fall have improved ISM calculations. Food is now excluded from ISM calculations—making it easier for families to put food on the table without worrying about unintended consequences for their loved ones’ benefits.⁵ Households that include a SNAP recipient are no longer subject to ISM rules. The rules determining the value of shelter assistance have also been simplified.⁶              

Despite these improvements, SSA rules are complicated, and beneficiaries are responsible for the agency’s mistakes as well as their own. If SSA pays a beneficiary more than they are owed due to an administrative error, the beneficiary’s monthly payments will be reduced to pay SSA back.⁷ The impacts can be devastating for beneficiaries—especially those who don‘t catch the error early—who suddenly lose the financial support they rely on to make it through the month. 

Navigating these complex rules and guidelines (with all their many exceptions) is understandably confusing, and the current system places an unrealistic burden on disabled and elderly individuals.  

Inadequate Agency Support and Guidance   

Staffing shortages and office closures in the past six months have made it increasingly difficult to get in touch with representatives from SSA for assistance. While SSA has tried to improve wait times by diverting individuals to national call centers when they call their local offices,⁸ these national call center employees sometimes cannot take action on a case because they lack jurisdiction.⁹ Additionally, by diverting national employees from their current jobs to help with the national call center, SSA is increasing the backlog of complex cases and assignments these employees were handling prior to reassignment.¹⁰ SSA is simultaneously cutting staff and increasing their workload by imposing stricter identity verification procedures on applicants as well as beneficiaries seeking to change their direct deposit information.¹¹

Considered in combination, these changes have placed applicants and beneficiaries in a frustrating situation. Moreover, historic data shows that Americans’ reliance on Social Security increases significantly during times of economic crisis.¹²  Should another recession occur (which may be likely with increasing tariffs and continued inflation), the situation could be disastrous for the populations SSA is intended to serve.      

 A Better Way Forward 

To ensure the Social Security Act continues to keep its promise to the American people, post-eligibility guidelines need to be simplified to the greatest extent possible, overpayment policies need to be more forgiving, and the SSA must ensure that adequate staffing exists to support current applicants and beneficiaries.  

These programs provide modest payments¹³ compared to other countries’ social insurance programs, yet these payments are all that stand between many beneficiaries and extreme financial hardship. Four in ten adults over the age of 65 would have income below the Federal Poverty Limit without Social Security benefits.¹⁴ Meanwhile, SSI, which is SSA’s needs-based program, is the only source of income for 57 percent of beneficiaries.¹⁵

The Social Security Act’s role in establishing a critical safety net for unemployed workers should also compel us to look to our state’s unemployment program on this important anniversary. It must rise to meet this moment in history, as Virginians lose their jobs due to changes in funding and policy at the federal level. Notably, initial and continuing claims for unemployment in Virginia continue to rise.¹⁶ 

Any one of us is at risk of disability, injury, or job loss—and we are all aging. It is vital that we work to preserve and strengthen these social insurance programs so that they can be there when we need them the most.  

Victoria Richardson is a Public Benefits and Healthcare Attorney at Virginia Poverty Law Center.

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Notes:

1. https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/social-security-lifts-more-people-above-the-poverty-line-than-any-other
2. The deeming and in-kind support and maintenance rules only apply to those receiving SSI, which is based on need instead of work history. 
3. The Work Incentive Planning and Assistance National Training and Data Center at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) has a helpful guide on these deeming rules that was last revised in January 2025: https://vcu-ntdc.org/resources/WIPA_OtherResources/2025_SpouseToSpouseDeeming.pdf.
4. https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-living-ussi.htm
5. These new policies are at risk of rescission by the current administration resulting in the loss of benefits to nearly 7,200 people in Virginia alone: https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/trump-administration-poised-to-cut-ssi-benefits-for-nearly-400000-low#_ftn1.
6. If the beneficiary is paying monthly rent that is at least as much as the Presumed Maximum Value (PMV) or the current market rental value (CMRV) (whichever is less), SSA will find that no “rental subsidy” exists allowing for a higher monthly payment. A “rental subsidy” applies when you or someone in your household is related to the landlord or landlord’s spouse as a parent or child: https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/spotlights/spot-living-arrangements-reg.htm.
7. For Title II beneficiaries, SSA postponed plans to start withholding 100 percent of an individual’s monthly check to pay back overpayments (instead clawing back up to 50 percent). See this blog post for more information about the upcoming change: https://vplc.org/social-security-overpayment-rule-change-2025/.
8. The field office locator tool can be helpful but our research has found that for certain offices, the national number is listed instead of the local office number.    
9. https://www.npr.org/2025/08/05/nx-s1-5482913/social-security-phone-sharing-system 
10. https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/07/ssa-touts-service-improvements-reassignments-tell-different-story/406618/#:~:text=Beginning%20last%20week%2C%20the%20agency,due%20to%20the%20new%20platform.%22 
11. https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/releases/2025/#2025-03-26
12. https://www.nber.org/brd/why-do-disability-insurance-enrollments-rise-during-recessions
13. The current Federal Benefit Rate (FBR), which is the maximum monthly payment amount that an SSI recipient can receive is the maximum monthly amount an individual or couple can receive is $967 for an individual and $1,450 for a couple, which is well below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). 
14. https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/top-ten-facts-about-social-security
15. https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/ssi_asr/2022/index.html
16. https://virginiaworks.gov/virginias-latest-unemployment-insurance-weekly-initial-claims-at-2615-continued-claims-at-21488/

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