From a Social Security blog:
We are excited to share a preview of our new website coming this year. ...
The new design – we call it our beta website – seeks to improve your online experience, so you can get to the information and services you need faster. We also include new interactive tools, like our new benefit eligibility screener. It’s a convenient way to learn if you might be eligible for benefits, without needing to know what benefit programs are available from Social Security.
Your opinion is very important to us. We invite you to explore our beta website at beta.ssa.gov and to use the “Feedback” button on the right side of the screen to tell us what you think. You can visit the website on your computer, tablet, and smartphone.
The beta website is a work in progress. Some links you select may take you to webpages on the current SSA.gov. ...
Big improvement for navigation. Well done.
ReplyDeleteLook like a big improvement. It still requires you to long in to your My SSA account to do most things, which is understandable. But that means the My SSA account needs to also be more user friendly, or this is a bust.
ReplyDeleteHow user more user friendly do you need it be? Or maybe, how much less secure do you need it to be?
ReplyDeleteIf you visit your local office with valid identification, the agency can bypass any and all identifying information and issue a code to use to make it quite simple.
It’s been that way for years.
Seems fairly simple.
The landing page is more user friendly because it lays out virtually every app/service on a single web page. Not a big deal if you already know where to find everything, but for seniors that are much less computer literate it makes a big difference.
ReplyDeleteMost people are not going to travel to an SSA office to reset their password. Really not necessary given the other security precautions and two factor authentication. The vast majority of highly secure corporate/bank/personal online accounts do not make it as difficult as SSA to reset passwords. The 24 hour lock out for account set ups also creates problems.
But you don’t have to travel to an office to reset your password. I’ve reset my own with that.
ReplyDeleteAnd that was the point of the previous post…go to the office to prevent the personal question people seem to have such a hard time answering to create the account. That will prevent the initial lockouts.
Furthermore, banks aren’t known for having the most secure internet security. There’s a give and take when it comes to privacy and security.
I didn't have any problem with the existing system.
ReplyDeleteWhere is the link to Forms? The new page is too simple.
ReplyDeleteWell just like many websites from all over, just click the menu and type forms in the search bar. Works like Google. Those search bars are your friend on lots of sites…use them.
ReplyDeletePuts a new face and I suppose it is a little clearer how to do things. What it does not do is add any functionality to what you can do online..
ReplyDeleteFor example, you still cannot file an SSI claim online. They do not show the new process to at least file to protect the date but that may be accessible in some other way.
We are not able to file an appeal where the issue is onset date of disability. We have to file a paper appeal and we are left to the vagaries of DO processing teh paper.
When we file appeals, we can attach evidence or the 1696 to the filing. We still can't do that with initial claims. In fact, we can attach nothing to an initial claim and have to submit it by fax or paper, again inefficient and prone to getting lost in DO.
Many, many companies provide a portal to schedule an appointment. Even if it means waiting when you get there, scheduling an appointment online without having to call would be a vast improvement.
I have submitted all of these comments to SS as well but they have been raised before with no effect.