The Social Security Administration has completed over 3.1 million payments to those who were entitled under the Social Security Fairness Act — five months ahead of schedule — the agency said recently.
"According to credible reporting, SSA cannibalized staff from all over the agency and assigned them to this project," Maria Freese, senior legislative representative at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, told ThinkAdvisor Friday. "While that’s good news for those now eligible for benefits under the SS Fairness Act, the transfer of responsibilities has only helped exacerbate the issues other beneficiaries are experiencing because of the staff shortages."
Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, questioned the validity of SSA's statement and agreed the payments have come at the expense of other SSA work.
"Because the current leadership at SSA is not transparent, we have no way of verifying their numbers," Altman added in another email Friday. "It's impossible to know if it's true that the Fairness Act payments have all been completed."
Said Altman: "To the extent that many, and perhaps all, of the Fairness Act payments have gone out, most of the credit should go to the Biden administration. Right after Biden signed the bill into law in December, his administration went to work. Although at first it looked like most of the work would have to be done by hand, they were able to automate much of it."
The Trump administration, Altman continued, "has forced out many of the senior people who made that possible, but has continued to prioritize Fairness Act payments. Unfortunately, it may be at the expense of other essential work."
While getting the Fairness Act payments out "is important," Altman said, it's "not as important as making sure no one is becoming homeless because their Social Security payments were improperly stopped or were reduced, and the beneficiary can't get through to SSA."
SSA also reported in early July that it has reduced the average speed of answer on the 800 number to 13 minutes, a 35% reduction from a year ago and a reduction more than 50% from last year’s annual average.
The agency said it had also optimized technology on the 800 number so that 90% of calls handled are now served via automated self-service options or callbacks, minimizing hold times.
"It is not credible that SSA‘s wait times and backlogs have improved, given how many experienced employees have been forced out and all the chaos the Trump administration has created," Altman said.
"What is known is that the Trump administration changed the metrics so that the comparisons became unhelpful apples to oranges. When that was discovered, the Trump administration simply removed the most important metrics," Altman continued. "Consequently, Congress and the public must rely on anecdotes, which all point in the same direction: degradation of the service to the public."
Freese agreed that "boasts of streamlining or improvements at SSA need to be taken with a huge grain of salt."
While Commissioner Frank Bisignano "touts new 24/7 online service, it should be noted that some elderly beneficiaries do not have sufficient tech skills or connectivity to access the agency's website. They rely on SSA phone service and in-person assistance and field offices, both of which have been significantly cut," Freese said.
"Also, thanks to DOGE-inspired cutbacks at SSA, the website has crashed multiple times since Trump took office. Furthermore, SSA is slashing its workforce to a 50 year-low record level, which already has had grave impacts on beneficiaries attempting to access their earned benefits. Claims of 'improved' phone service and decreased wait times are questionable, since many callers are simply giving up — and hanging up — especially since Bisignano's introduction of ineffective AI bots to answer calls."
SSA's "radical changes in staffing and service have forced more beneficiaries to travel to (increasingly distant) field offices, which are understaffed now because Bisignano has been shifting them to call centers," Freese added.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.