2024-19185. Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Request

Modality of completion	Number of respondents	Frequency of response	Average burden per response (minutes)	Estimated annual burden (hours)	Average theoretical cost amount (dollars) *	Average wait time in field office or for teleservice centers (minutes) **	Total annual opportunity cost (dollars) ***
SSA-1
Paper version (SSA-1)	17,604	1	11	3,227	* $31.48		*** $101,586
Interview/Phone MCS	1,679,321	1	10	279,887	* 31.48	** 19	*** 25,551,435
Interview/Office MCS	51,648	1	10	8,608	* 31.48	** 24	*** 921,325
Internet First Party	1,835,958	1	15	458,990	* 31.48		*** 14,449,005
Third party initiated (complete and submit)	81,810	1	15	20,453	* 31.48		*** 643,860
Totals	3,666,341			771,165			*** 41,067,211
( print page 68693)
SSA-2
Paper version (SSA-2)	6,723	1	15	1,681	* 31.48		*** 52,918
Interview/Phone MCS	358,225	1	14	83,586	* 31.48	** 19	*** 6,202,316
Interview/Office MCS	8,227	1	14	1,920	* 31.48	** 24	*** 164,042
Internet First Party	119,129	1	15	29,782	* 31.48		*** 937,537
Totals	492,304			116,969			*** 7,356,813
SSA-16
Paper version (SSA-16)	46,032	1	20	15,344	* 31.48		*** 483,029
Interview/Phone MCS	723,281	1	19	229,039	* 31.48	** 19	*** 14,420,295
Interview/Office MCS	10,843	1	19	3,434	* 31.48	** 24	*** 244,631
Internet First Party	667,806	1	15	166,952	* 31.48		*** 5,255,649
Internet Third party	561,014	1	15	140,254	* $31.48		*** 4,415,196
Totals	2,008,976			555,023			*** 24,818,800
Grand Total
Totals	6,167,621			1,443,157			*** 73,242,824
* We based this figure on the average hourly wage for all occupations as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ( https://www.bls.gov/​oes/​current/​oes_​nat.htm).
** We based this figure on the average FY 2024 wait times for field offices, based on SSA's current management information data.
*** This figure does not represent actual costs that SSA is imposing on recipients of Social Security payments to complete this application; rather, these are theoretical opportunity costs for the additional time respondents will spend to complete the application. There is no actual charge to respondents to complete the application.

(2) 0960-0229/SSA-8000, Application for Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

Form SSA-8000 is the full SSI application. SSA instructs technicians to use the SSA-8000 for initial claim interviews when respondents:

• Have a condition that would likely meet a medical allowance (e.g., terminal illness, presumptive blindness, compassionate allowance (CAL) conditions such leukemia, Lymphoma, etc.,) which allows technicians to simultaneously submit the application for medical evaluation and continue the income and resources development. This process ensures that the medical evaluation is not delayed due to any pending non-medical development;
• File for aged benefits;
• File together with a spouse (i.e., couple cases); or
• Meet the Expeditious Handling criteria (e.g., homeless, pre-release from public instructions, etc.).

It is possible that someone who otherwise would have gone to a field office or called SSA to complete a full SSA-8000 might now complete the new iSSI at the beginning of the process, and would then be called by SSA at a later point to provide the additional required information. iClaim asks these applicants to provide us with their intent to file for SSI (when filing for DIB using iClaim) or contact us to set up an appointment and file with the assistance of a technician. These applicants will also have the option to complete the iSSI pathing in iClaim. This process will continue with the implementation of Phase 1. For individuals who are aged ( i.e., age of 64 and 10 months) or married filing for SSI, iClaim will not display the iSSI pathing; rather, the system will indicate that SSA will contact the applicants later to complete their SSI application.

For the individuals who now start off with the iSSI and have a condition that would likely meet a medical allowance, the filed application is flagged as a priority case to expedite the process. SSA technicians will quickly review the application, refer it to the DDS for medical evaluation, and simultaneously develop and secure additional information as needed. However, with the new iSSI, the universe of respondents will expand, and the amount of time needed to complete file their applications will decrease. Projected updated burden figures are reflected below:

Modality of completion	Number of respondents	Frequency of response	Average burden per response (minutes)	Estimated total annual burden (hours)	Average theoretical cost amount (dollars) *	Average wait time in field office or for teleservice centers (minutes) **	Total annual opportunity cost (dollars) ***
Intranet CCE or SSI Claims System	674,154	1	35	393,257	* $22.39	** 19	* $13,584,886
SSA-8000 (Paper Version)	34,244	1	40	22,829	* 22.39	** 19	*** 753,938
Internet SSI (iSSI) converted into CCE intranet full application	1,080	1	20	360	* 22.39	** 19	*** 15,718
Total	709,478			416,446			*** 14,354,542
* We based this figure by averaging both the average DI payments based on SSA's current data ( https://www.ssa.gov/​legislation/​2024FactSheet.pdf), and the average U.S. worker's hourly wages, as reported by Bureau of Labor Statistics data ( https://www.bls.gov/​oes/​current/​oes_​nat.htm).
** We based this figure on averaging both the average FY 2024 wait times for field offices and teleservice centers, based on SSA's management information data.
*** This figure does not represent actual costs that SSA is imposing on recipients of Social Security payments to complete this application; rather, these are theoretical opportunity costs for the additional time respondents will spend to complete the application. There is no actual charge to respondents to complete the application.

( print page 68694)

(3) 0960-0444/SSA-8001, Application for Supplemental Security Income (Deferred or Abbreviated)

SSA uses this shortened version of the SSI application to determine an applicant's potential eligibility for SSI, specifically to (1) provide a formal notification when non-medical information the applicant provides results in ineligibility; or (2) defer the complete development of non-medical issues until the DDS approves the medical portion of the disability process.

Specifically, SSA technicians use the SSA-8001 when the filing respondents seem to meet the non-medical eligibility requirements for at least one month and SSA can defer other development until the respondent receives a notice of medical allowance. After the initial interview and upon receiving medical allowance, technicians contact respondents who filed for SSI using the SSA-8001 to develop any deferred issues and update the information about income and resources from the time the respondent filed the application up to the month the respondent received SSA's approval. At that point, SSA technicians use the Intranet version of the SSA-8000 to develop the remaining necessary information (from the perspective of the applicant, through a personal interview).

SSA anticipates that the majority of respondents for the new iSSI would have otherwise completed the SSA-8001. Accordingly, we are revising the burden for the SSA-8001 to reflect this reduction:

Modality of completion	Number of respondents	Frequency of response	Average burden per response (minutes)	Estimated total annual burden (hours)	Average theoretical cost amount (dollars) *	Average wait time in field office or for teleservice centers (minutes) **	Total annual opportunity cost (dollars) ***
Intranet CCE or SSI Claims System	426,388	1	28	198,981	* $22.39	** 19	*** $7,478,350
Internet Claim System (iSSI) First party	+  76,500	1	6	7,650	* 22.39		*** 171,284
Internet Claim System (iSSI) Third party	+  71,000	1	6	7,100	* 22.39		*** 158,969
SSA-8001 (Paper Version)	38,304	1	28	17,875	* 22.39	** 19	*** 671,812
Total	612,192			231,606			*** 8,480,415
+ We are not double counting the number of respondents in this ICR, as we do not account for the iSSI (iClaim) respondents under 0960-0618, we only account for them here.
* We based this figure by averaging both the average DI payments based on SSA's current data ( https://www.ssa.gov/​legislation/​2024FactSheet.pdf), and the average U.S. worker's hourly wages, as reported by Bureau of Labor Statistics data ( https://www.bls.gov/​oes/​current/​oes_​nat.htm).
** We based this figure on averaging both the average FY 2024 wait times for field offices and teleservice centers, based on SSA's management information data.
*** This figure does not represent actual costs that SSA is imposing on recipients of Social Security payments to complete this application; rather, these are theoretical opportunity costs for the additional time respondents will spend to complete the application. There is no actual charge to respondents to complete the application.