Making Government Programs Easier to Access

By Sam Berger, Associate Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

Today, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) released its second annual report describing the Administration’s work to identify and reduce burdens that individuals, families, and small businesses face every day when interacting with government programs. The Biden Administration has made reducing administrative burdens a central priority. At OIRA, we have been working to minimize the burdens that fall on members of the public through our review of government forms and relevant regulations involving public benefits and services.

Administrative burdens—complicated forms, requests for redundant information, or confusing application processes—have a real cost: they lead to people being unable to access critical programs for which they are eligible. By one estimate, every year more than $140 billion in government benefits that Congress has authorized goes unclaimed—including tax credits for working families, health insurance coverage for low-income adults and children, unemployment benefits, and disability supports. In a similar vein, researchers have found that many small businesses that could qualify for tax credits do not claim them.

Unclaimed benefits can mean that more families struggle to make ends meet and more small businesses fail to grow. While others may succeed in accessing benefits, they still pay a heavy toll in the form of lost time, increased stress, the shame of stigma, or other costs.

As part of our ongoing burden reduction initiative, last year we released a report discussing key agency efforts to reduce administrative burdens. Today’s report provides an update on some of those efforts and highlights new steps being taken across the Federal government to reduce burdens and improve government service, including:

The Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Digital Service’s efforts to increase automatic renewals in the Medicaid program using the government’s own data, instead of having people fill out complicated forms.
The Small Business Administration’s efforts to speed up the process for businesses seeking disaster loans.

Go to https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/briefing-room/2024/07/17/making-government-programs-easier-to-access/ read full Whitehouse statement.