From Social Security's own blog:
We made some difficult decisions because of these latest budget limits. During the past year, we began a hiring freeze that will reduce our staff to the lowest level since FY 2013. We use a lot less overtime now, which affects our ability to reduce critical backlogs. Over a million people are waiting for a hearing to see if they are eligible for disability benefits.
Today, we are taking another cost-saving step. We will mail fewer paper Social Security Statements. Paper Statements will only be sent to people age 60 and over, who are not getting benefits and don’t have a my Social Security account. This will bring down the costs of processing and mailing paper Statements by $11.3 million in FY 2017.This change is already drawing attention from Michael Hiltzik at the L.A. Times, Phillip Moeller at PBS and Mary Beth Franklin at Investment News.
3 comments:
I don't see a problem with this???
9:10: read Hiltzik's column, which is linked in the blog post.
I would like to see added to the list: 1) people with disabilities that keep them from reliably accessing online services (likely a lot of people with mental impairments), and 2) Anyone in poverty who may have trouble affording a computer with internet services (most SSI recipients). The first one is legally required under the Rehabilitation Act's obligation to provide accessible services for people with disabilities. Hitzik's article is, as usual, spot on for calling out the true culprits in the underfunding of the agency that is causing the reductions in services.
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