There's a report on the CNBC website on Tuesday's House Social Security Subcommittee hearing. I don't see anything indicating that this appears anywhere other than online. There's no video that I see.
Social Security's problems are receiving only limited media attention.
Because no one cares.
ReplyDeleteMost people who aren’t disabled or nearing retirement have no idea SSA exists.
I think most younger people don’t think it will be available to them so they aren’t interested.
I know before I started working for the agency, I had no idea it existed.
I had never lost my SSN Card so and was blessed not to suffer from a disability, so out of sight, out of mind.
I don’t think the majority of the general public could tell you much if anything about the agency or programs it provides.
846 am is 100% right.
ReplyDeletecongress does not care and a limited part of the public cant influence change.
The issues in SSA are openly known and nothing gets done and wont.
Ever since AARP transitioned from an interest group to a third party insurance company, there is nobody pushing this information out to the press, lobbying Congress, etc. Since SSA is not cabinet level, there is also nobody in the President's ear.
ReplyDeleteThe decision to become an independent agency is looking worse and worse as time goes by. At least in HHS there was a direct line to the WH.
It's a fiasco, and it's only going to get worse.
ReplyDeleteI work in a payment center. I recently worked a case that had been backlogged for over a year.
Now if you’re that claimant who has been waiting for a year, SSA problems are important to you. Or if you can’t reach a Field Office.
But for the vast majority of SSA beneficiaries, their payments are automatically paid each month with no problems. And most people don’t even receive SSA benefits yet.
It’s a tiny minority who are affected by SSA backlogs and other problems. That’s why the news coverage is paltry. Most people are not interested.
9:24 is on to something. Over 60 million people receive a payment each month like clockwork. The online retirement filing, ben ver, replacement SSN, is working very well for the vast majority of people so they have no complaints. What folks here to not want to hear is many issues creating problems/limiting service are caused by people who do not report simple changes (COA, return to work, death of relatives). SSA staff, including management, is doing the best they can with what they have. They need more but always have. I started in 1981 and things were the same then.
ReplyDeleteI think there should be some reminiscence of the past shown on multiple news networks of what the world looked like before SSA. Like a segment called "Life without Social Security." - Soup kitchens with lines around the corner, the elderly sitting on curbs begging for money, and the mentally ill being brutally experimented on in asylums across the country (and world). If a couple networks would do a li'l history digging, and make it a bit bigger of a deal in order to SHOW the new generations what it used to be like, I think it would help quite a bit. d:-/
ReplyDeleteMedia attention! Who the hell cares?
ReplyDeleteAgree with the comment- SSA should be a legislatively authorized Cabinet Agency complete with Secretary etc. Otherwise , SSA will continue its downward funding and services path. It's likely that SSA will once again have an Acting Commissioner throughout Bidens term . Democrats have introduced a number of bills over the years to "improve" Social Security and SSA.To my knowledge none have included raising SSA to an Official Cabinet Agency .
ReplyDeleteMy recollection is that the VA was elevated to Cabinet status in the 80s with the strong insistence of Veterans Services organizations (and members of Congress) unsatisfied with VA services etc
As another commenter noted the AARP is now not capable or interested in taking on this role on behalf of current or future Social Security beneficiaries.
ReplyDeleteWell if they are not going to talk about SSA, at least AARP saved me a lot of money on my auto insurance!
They beat the others rates by a wide margin so I switched. Perhaps it is their market size.
Really that isn't AARP's job to push for SSA funding, and they already have been criticized for being too liberal. There is a conservative alternative for AARP now, for us older folks.