AARP On Social Security Staffing

From the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Bulletin, mailed to 29 million households:

Texans were already lining up to get help at the Social Security office in Pasadena, a suburb of Houston, at 8 a.m., an hour before the office opens. The glass-and-concrete building, which sits in a no-frills strip mall, is "known for its long waits," says Angelica Obregón, who was leaning against her walker on this muggy September morning, eyeing a gray sky that threatened rain.

"People bring chairs, people bring umbrellas, people bring their breakfasts...because they have a long wait—a long wait," says Obregón, 49, who has visited the office repeatedly about her Social Security disability case.

The Social Security Administration (SSA)—which touches the lives of virtually every American—was once touted as the preeminent can-do agency. But budget cuts, staff reductions and a growing list of new duties involving everything from Medicare to homeland security processing are taking a toll on the system that administers the nation's retirement program, its 1,500 offices in neighborhoods across the country—and the people who rely on them.

"This is a train wreck unfolding right in front of us," says Sylvester Schieber, chairman of the Social Security Advisory Board, an independent, bipartisan body whose members are appointed by the president and Congress to report on the agency.

"People will be alarmed," Schieber says, "to learn this agency they think they're going to depend on … doesn't have the resources to deal with the cases coming its way." ...

Calling a Social Security office can be as frustrating as lining up there. Today, an average of 51 percent of all calls to local offices get a busy signal, according to the SSA's own study.

The Bloomington, Ind., office, for example, serves five counties and has one person answering the phones, says Vicki Ketchum, who was interviewed before she retired as the district manager last month. "People have told me they've called the office for two weeks and couldn't get through," she says, "so they packed up the car and drove up to two hours to get here. That's not right."

Most disturbing may be the backlog in claims for disability insurance. Largely driven by boomers in their 50s—the years when working men and women are most prone to develop illnesses and disabilities, according to the SSA—the number of workers who say they are too sick or disabled to continue to work has grown by a staggering 60 percent in the past few years. Today 750,000 of these vulnerable Americans are waiting an average of 520 days—and in some areas close to three years—for a hearing on their claims.

"The agency is struggling to balance its new responsibilities and its traditional work," without added resources, Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue told a congressional hearing in May.

In a more recent interview with the AARP Bulletin, Astrue said that he is "trying to be optimistic. We're doing our best to stay as far ahead of the curve for as long as we can."

"Right now," he says, "in most parts of the country the level of service is quite high. But waiting times in some offices are more than what I or anyone else would like to see. And the disability backlog is simply unacceptable."

As the workload has been increasing, the number of SSA employees has been shrinking. The agency has lost 4,000 workers in the last two years alone, and staffing is at its lowest level in 33 years. ...