"NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with economy reporter Chabeli Carrazana from The 19th News about women whose spouses and children have died of COVID struggling to seek benefits from Social Security offices."
"NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with economy reporter Chabeli Carrazana from The 19th News about women whose spouses and children have died of COVID struggling to seek benefits from Social Security offices."
5 comments:
"CARRAZANA: Well, for almost every benefit that you would need to interact with Social Security, you need to either go in-person or do it through the phone. The only thing that you can apply for online is retirement."
I weep for the state of journalism in 2022. He either did no research, not even a cursory visit to SSA.gov, or he is lying.
In addition to retirement you can file online for disability, spousal benefits, and Medicare.
The only things you cannot apply for online are survivor benefits and benefits for minor children.
8:48 Apparently you need to do some research or actually attempt to file for things online. If you are already receiving any kind of benefit you cannot apply for another benefit online. You cannot answer SSI resource questions online. There are also a myriad of reasons why people can’t apply for any benefits online such as incorrect birthday recorded by SSA, account lockouts, etc.
Actually you can apply for benefits online if you’re already getting them. It happens a lot. I should know, I processed the internet claims for our office and it’s a regular occurrence. People also apply for a new application even when they have a appeal filed. You’re probably wondering how would this happen and the answer is pretty simple, the people doing this do not have a MySSA account. If you have an account, you can see all of this but you don’t need an account to file for retirement or disability or an appeal. So again, it happens more than you think.
As far as applying for SSI, that’s trickier because there is no online application for SSI. If you have never filed for SSI before and aren’t married, you can select to file a concurrent Disability/SSI claim but, it’s not really a SSI claim. The system just
loads a blank SSI application on the system with zero information in it other than your name and SSN.
Unless you have a MySSA account, the online interactions have zero interface with SSA systems. That’s how you can file for Disability while actually getting disability already. SSA has some of the most inefficient systems I’ve ever encountered in my entire life.
How many calls a day are from people that want to file a Dib claim or SSI and you have to tell them no, because they already have one in progress, or under a recon or appeal?
How many calls, maybe a handful a week. How many appointment slots are taken up by people wanting to file for SSI but are already on DIB and don’t qualify? Too many. They are easy appointments, don’t get me wrong, but they take up slots that other people need.
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