Supplemental Security Income — SSI, to everyone who receives the benefit — has horribly complicated rules. But recent announcements from the Social Security Administration promise to liberalize those rules dramatically. The new SSI rules should make it easier to qualify for benefits. More importantly, they should make it easier to manage and report relevant financial items that affect the benefits.

The key changes in the new SSI rules will take place at the end of September. They mostly revolve around the concept of “in-kind support and maintenance” (ISM). That concept reduces the SSI benefit under some circumstances where another person (a parent, for example, or a special needs trust) provides food and/or shelter to an SSI recipient.

In this podcast episode, we discuss the new SSI rules, and how they should benefit many recipients. We look forward to seeing how those benefits actually play out in individual cases.