The Social Security Administration has made major updates to its application for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in the hopes of making it easier for Americans to apply for benefits in the future.

SSI provides monthly checks to Americans with disabilities and elderly people with limited income.

For many, navigating the current SSI application can be difficult, but the SSA hopes to solve some of these problems with a new application that will go live in December.

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“We’ve seen more government-funded social programs make the leap to simplified software in recent years, and this move is urgently needed,” said Alex Beene, a financial literacy professor at the University of Tennessee at Martin. News week.

“Americans have become accustomed to virtually every other online form being as straightforward and hassle-free as possible. If some programs like SSI don’t adapt sooner, it could result in fewer applicants going through the process and receiving these much-needed benefits.”

The new December application will be available entirely online and will be optimized for first-time filers ages 18 to nearly 65 who have never been married and are simultaneously applying for Social Security and SSI benefits.

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In the second phase, scheduled for late 2025, the SSA hopes to expand the new application to all applicants.

According to the SSA’s press release, the new application will use “user-tested, plain-language questions” and “seamless step-by-step transitions” and is designed to reduce the time Americans spend on their applications and the processing time for the initial application decision.

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This could make a big difference compared to the current application, which is submitted on a paper form and typically takes two hours to complete with the help of an SSA employee, the Government Executive news agency reported.

“Over the past year, we’ve asked many applicants and advocates – as well as our staff – how we can make the SSI application process simpler and more straightforward. Now we’re taking an important first step to do just that,” Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley said in a statement.

“The people in our communities who need this critical safety net deserve the dignity of an application process that is less burdensome and more accessible than what we have now, and we are committed to making that vision a reality in the years to come.”

The SSA is still facing a deadline as the agency faces a bankruptcy crisis.

The trustee’s latest report concluded that the government would run out of money to cover all benefit payments by 2033.

“If Congress does not act, Social Security will face a 17 percent benefit shortfall for all of our beneficiaries who currently contribute. The good news is that this is a solvable problem,” O’Malley said previously.