The Social Security Administration’s ability to transact business with the public has been deteriorating for more than a decade. But the unprecedented shakeup and downsizing launched last year by the Trump administration have made it much more difficult to do business with the most important government agencies serving retirees.
The SSA now has fewer employees than at any time since 1967, when it served 52 million fewer beneficiaries. Field office staff numbers have dropped precipitously, and staff has been scrambled to meet demand, with calls to the agency’s toll-free service line routed to field office staff all over the country.
“There is a lot of frustration with people not being able to get through on the phone, not being able to walk in for service, and feeling like, even when they do get through to somebody, that person isn’t able to resolve their issue,” says Kate Lang, director of federal income security at Justice in Aging, a national advocacy organization.
Lang is especially worried about delays at the SSA’s payment centers, which are responsible for getting benefits into your pocket after they have been approved. “There’s a huge problem at the payment centers that isn’t really being talked about,” she says. “Even when people are awarded benefits, it’s taking a long time for them to get into pay status. Right now, it can take two or three months after somebody’s been found eligible for retirement benefits to get into pay status, and that’s just unprecedented,” she says.
