The future of the Social Security Administration is becoming more uncertain by the day as the government through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is calling for further cost-cutting measures. Now, in a shocking turn of events, Social Security is paying workers to walk away and this could be bad news for millions of retirees who heavily depend on its services.
The SSA is now offering thousands of employees financial incentives to leave their jobs and critics have termed this move as reckless. This move is part of DOGE’s effort to restructure most government agencies. While officials in government and DOGE argue that these buyouts will cut costs, experts have warned that paying workers to walk away could affect how SSA delivers services to disabled Americans, retirees, and other beneficiaries.
Expected Massive Job Losses at the SSA
The SSA announced last month that workers who leave their jobs voluntarily would receive incentive payments. Initially, SSA had estimated that over 7,000 employees would take the offer but former leaders of the agency believe that due to the current crisis at SSA, the figure could be closer to 10,000.
Losing such a large number of workers is risky because customer service delivery would deteriorate further, considering that SSA is already struggling to keep up with the high demand since its workforce is at its lowest in 50 years. Therefore, losing more employees would start the agency further leading to delays or even failure to offer services, and this could be devastating for retirees and other beneficiaries.
According to the former SSA Commissioner, Martin O’Malley, such drastic workforce cuts could cause a total collapse of Social Security and cause a lot of damage.
Why Paying Workers to Walk Away Means Trouble for Retirees
With Social Security paying workers to walk away, service delivery to millions of beneficiaries who depend on SSA is set to become harder. A decrease in the workforce amid labor shortage at the SSA means;
Longer waiting times for retirees- currently, only less than 40% of callers can access an SSA representative via their support numbers. This number is likely to rise soon as more workers are expected to leave the agency. Therefore wait times are only going to get worse.
Delayed benefit payments- currently, it only takes an average of 240 days to process disability claims. However, these claims are set to be delayed for longer as SSA is set to lose thousands of workers.
Closure of most Social Security offices.- following DOGE’s plans to cut government spending, 45 SSA field offices’ leases have been terminated making it harder for retirees and other beneficiaries to access in-person SSA services in some regions of the country. It is estimated that over 120,000 Americans visit SSA offices daily, therefore most of these people are likely to be inconvenienced.
Elon Musk Claims That Social Security is a “Ponzi Scheme.”
As Social Security is paying workers to walk away, Elon Musk has made his claims clear that the program is a “Ponzi Scheme” that is wasting government resources. These claims have led to the slashing of government programs that will see federal entitlement of up to $700 billion cut from programs like Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. Critics have criticized this move saying that it is an exaggeration and that planning to force out thousands of Social Security workers instead of finding where waste and fraud is misguided.
What is Expected?
Seeing Social Security workers being paid to walk away seems inevitable and this could be bad news for millions of beneficiaries. As the SSA’s March deadline for voluntary exits approaches, SSA is set to be in a crisis directly threatening millions of retirees who depend on it.
The fight to protect Social Security is getting harder and right now, the beneficiaries and those who support SSA seem to be losing this war.