A little more than a year and a month ago, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah took to X to lambast Social Security, likening the retirement income insurance program to a Ponzi scheme set up to cheat the American people out of freedom and security in retirement.
The harsh messaging was just one shot in a broader rhetorical salvo unleashed by supporters of President Donald Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency and its then-leader Elon Musk, who likewise was in the habit of comparing Social Security to some of the biggest financial frauds in the history of the United States.
And Musk’s actions weren’t just rhetorical. As ThinkAdvisor covered at the time, an “efficiency” push from DOGE resulted in the layoffs or early retirements of thousands of Social Security Administration staffers, along with the reduction and realignment of SSA’s regional offices from 10 to four.
Retirement planning experts like Jason Fichtner, a former acting deputy commissioner of Social Security, and Martha Shedden, president and co-founder of the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts, were deeply troubled at the time. They worried that the combination of toxic rhetoric and actual workforce disruptions would jeopardize the SSA’s ability to deliver benefits and effectively serve its many millions of beneficiaries.
Fast forward to early 2026 and the situation has improved, both Fichtner and Shedden recently told ThinkAdvisor, especially with respect to the spread of untrue information about the program from the highest levels of the federal government. The program's funding outlook remains bleak, they warned, but conditions at the SSA itself appear to have stabilized.
Back From the Brink?
“There’s no question that the DOGE rhetoric from early last year was a real problem,” Fichtner said. “I’m very glad to see that the Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano has distanced himself from all that. From what I’ve seen he appears to be focused on using his technical experience to modernize the SSA in an attempt to bring down wait times to help with customer service issues.”
Fichtner noted that the SSA’s publicly reported customer service metrics have started to show some improvement, though getting the complete picture is a challenge.
“They have reported improvements but my sense is that they are still facing some real staffing issues and customer service issues,” Fichtner said. “I would say overall that I’m cautiously optimistic about conditions improving over time at the SSA. I think Frank has the credibility he needs to go to Republicans in charge of Congress and say, ‘Here is the funding we need to get our job done and here’s how to hold us accountable.’ Overall, I think he's on the right track.”
Fichtner said he was bemused by the Trump administration's decision in October to also appoint Bisignano as the CEO of the Internal Revenue Service — a move that startled and surprised many SSA watchers.
“I don’t really worry about that as much as some other people might,” Fichtner said. “I heard him say something at a meeting once. Someone asked him how he could do both of those jobs, and his response was telling. He said he really only has one job, and that’s serving the American people. I think that’s the right perspective. … At the very least, it seems like we are done vilifying the SSA like a political football.”
Continued Skepticism
Shedden largely agreed with Fichtner’s perspective, celebrating the fact that high-profile figures in the federal government aren’t constantly attacking Social Security, but she said she’s been taking the SSA’s publicly reported performance metrics with a grain of salt.
According to the SSA, the average wait time for a customer service call has fallen from 30 minutes in January 2025 to seven minutes in September 2025, while serving 65% more callers than in the previous year. The SSA has also said its growing use of technology, self-service options, and process engineering have delivered meaningful improvements.
“Those numbers look good, but you just can’t get around the fact that there’s been a meaningful reduction in staff,” Shedden said. “I’m constantly speaking with real Social Security beneficiaries, and their lived experience trying to navigate the program is still very tough. My perspective is that we need a full-press public awareness campaign about the importance of fully funding the SSA and working towards bigger structural reforms that will fix the program’s finances.”
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