Jan 17, 2006

Medicare Part D Problems at SSA

The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA) has sent out an e-mail to its members about its contacts with top management at SSA asking for help in dealing with a deluge of claimants seeking information about the Medicare prescription drug benefit (Part D of Medicare) and help in signing up for it. Here is how the NCSSMA President describes the situation:
The core of our call today was discussing the impact of the huge increase in telephone calls to the 800# and the huge increase in visitors to SSA since the beginning of the year. The 800# is seeing a 100% increase in calls on some days for comparable periods the same time last year. Many FO’s [Field Offices] are seeing walk-in traffic far beyond what they have seen in years.

Unfortunately, the rest of the e-mail suggests that there is no relief on the way for the beleagured SSA employees, or the public.

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