The Social Security Administration (SSA) appears to be making some major changes to one of its policies without proper announcement and as a result, advocacy groups are raising concerns that these changes will be creating unnecessary hurdles for an already vulnerable group of people.
The change in question is related to conducting your business with the agency via the telephone. Beneficiaries will now be required to verify their identity online through their account by means of a one time PIN before being able to fulfill any queries such as viewing their claim status or updating their address over the telephone. The SSA is claiming that this additional step to verify one’s identity is being put in place as an anti-fraud measure, however, experts have shared that their is no evidence that requesting changes over the telephone leads to fraud.
If or when this policy comes into effect, the agency has estimated that around 3.4 million people will have to visit field offices to sort out their queries. This may spell trouble for beneficiaries as the SSA let go of a significant number of employees at the behest of DOGE earlier this year and there have since been several claims that the agency is severely understaffed. A significant increase in foot traffic coupled with understaffed field offices will surely result in long lines at the agency and increased wait times for beneficiaries.
The Social Security Administration employs new anti-fraud measure
Recently, the SSA submitted a regulatory filing to the Office of Management and Budget wherein it is stated that the agency “is expanding its online authentication requirement for address changes, claim status requests, benefit verification letters and tax statements.” This policy is set to come into effect as of August 18th, and when it does, millions of beneficiaries will likely have to make a trip to their nearest field office when trying complete routine tasks according to estimates from the SSA.
When taking seniors citizens, disabled individuals, or those living in rural areas into consideration, have this sort of multi-factor authentification in place for simple queries can prove to be incredibly burdensome on the already vulnerable beneficiary. For decades prior to this filing, beneficiaries were able to change their addresses, view the status of claims, request benefit verification letters, or ask for tax forms with ease over the telephone.
Now, they will first need to verify their identity online with the one time PIN and if they are unable to do so, they will be required to visit a field office in person — resulting in unnecessary travel costs and a high possibility of waiting in long lines. For those living in rural areas and those with mobility issues, this can prove to be rather difficult.
Advocacy groups raise concerns
According to a recent blog post from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), the “SSA did not consult with stakeholders before rushing to make this switch, and it has yet to announce or explain the change to Social Security beneficiaries, instead burying notice of the change in a technical notice on a regulatory website.”
The CBPP also estimated that “the phone restrictions will result in beneficiaries spending nearly 3 million additional hours travelling to SSA field offices to get help each year, assuming no traffic, based on our previous estimates of how far seniors live from Social Security offices.”
Parallel to the CBPP’s concerns, Nancy LeaMond, AARP chief advocacy and engagement officer at AARP, also wrote a letter to Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano on Tuesday explaining the following: “For many older Americans, the phone is how they access Social Security services without having to rely on complicated technology or long, difficult, or costly trips to field offices. We are concerned that under this new policy, older Americans, especially those in rural areas, will have to call, wait on hold for possibly hours, and then wait weeks for an appointment — and in some cases even take time off work — to complete simple transactions they have long been able to do over the phone.”