From the Washington Post:
The Social Security Administration is considering adding a new anti-fraud step to claims for benefits that the agency acknowledges would force millions of customers to file in person at a field office rather than over the phone, according to an internal memorandum. The change would create major disruptions to Social Security operations, the memo said, and could cause particular hardship for elderly and disabled Americans who have limited mobility. Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service also has announced plans to cut thousands of agency jobs and close dozens of regional and local Social Security offices. Those applying for retirement and disability benefits by phone would be required for the first time to authenticate their identity through an online system that the memo refers to as “internet ID proofing.” But if claimants can’t verify their identity online, they would have to provide documentation in person at a field office, according to the memo, which was viewed by The Washington Post. The document was sent last week by Doris Diaz, acting deputy commissioner for operations, to acting Social Security commissioner Leland Dudek. …
The memo estimates that 75,000 to 85,000 customers per week would be diverted to local field offices because many of the elderly and disabled people that Social Security serves would be unable to complete a new identity verification requirement online. “Increased challenges for vulnerable populations,” “longer wait times and processing time,” “increased demand for office appointments” and “increased foot traffic” at local field offices are the kinds of service disruptions the memo warns would happen if the change is implemented — as well as legal challenges and “operational strain.” ..
28 comments:
I have no idea how field offices will be able to accommodate this change?
The agency might as well close the WSU if every person will have to visit an office no matter what.
Call your congressman…
Will I still be able to file for retirement benefits online?
Being a federal employee for the past month has felt like being on “The Last of Us.” I’m very sorry. Who could ever have imagined this chaos?
They already require this with a small percentage of Internet claims (called anomalous iClaims) that trip some indicator of being outside the norm in biographical information. (The parameters aren't shared, and I imagine that there's some random sampling there too.)
Basically they'll just flip the switch to 100%. It'll drown the FO in all the traffic that we just managed to throttle down with internet Social Security cards and appointment-focused service, and more.
The vast majority of Social Security fraud is fraudulent direct deposit changes using stolen personal information. Internet-filed benefit claims are a miniscule source of fraud, and these jackasses know this. It's a deliberate attempt to break the field offices by drowning them in unnecessary traffic.
I'm sorry if you want to keep the blog clean Charles, but as a Claims Specialist with twice the workload of pre-COVID due to employee attrition, if I saw Leland Dudek in person the nicest thing I could say is that I'd spit in his goddamned face.
Yes. They are attempting to break the system and thereby convince the uneducated that private equity is the answer. Good luck. You see how well it’s worked in every other sector- think nursing homes.
People can't make third-party mySocialSecurity accounts, so what will this mean for parents helping their kids, appointed reps, etc.? And what's the plan when the claimant is comatose in ICU or something? Sounds like a PR nightmare.
Call your Congressperson or give a ring to DOGE.
No, but Elon will permit you to die while waiting six months for an appointment.
Sounds like a giant myssa push to me. The wsu workload might diminish short term, but long term this will mean less people going to the FO once every customer is EXPECTED to use mySSA. It's the FOs.that will long term see staff reductions. This looks like a grow the Internet move as I see it.
Don't you know that The King has declared anything done at home is fraud, waste, and abuse? Return to Office!
Most people who file on the phone are doing so because they don’t have internet access/aren’t internet savvy and/or they are unable to get to a field office. This proposal completely disregards the public’s need for telephone services and will drive even more people to our already saturated field offices. This is complete insanity.
Yes
Help is on the way as non-essential employees will be getting their reassignments to the field offices very soon.
Amen @11:14....AMEN
I am a manager in an office that has lost 1/3 of staff since February. This is a disaster! And this is NO WAY to treat the public...fear and lies
I assist clients applying for disability by completing a 3rd party application so they don't end up on the phone trying to answer all the questions. There is no public transportation to the local field office here and I seriously doubt many of my homeless clients are going to walk 65 miles one way to verify their identity. They will simply keep falling through the cracks.
How fast will this folks be up to speed to help? Assume they need training.
The agency did a big risk analysis before allowing teleclaims to proceed, including the impact on customer service and knowingly didn't lock it down because of that and pressure to move more processes online. DOGE is essentially saying that risk is too much risk, a decision that puts agency needs over customer needs needlessly. (sorry about that.)
If they need training, they won't be fully effective for 2-3 years. Initial training takes the better part of a year, but it takes years to master any position.
They'll be minimally useful during the portion of the day they aren't in training, but management and journey level technicians will also need to dedicate time to training them, pulling these individuals from other workloads.
I would wager that falling through the cracks in this scenario is seen as a feature and not a bug by those seeking to implement this system.
I agree it's crazy but in my 35 years of T2 claims taking, it was usually middle class to upper middle class that filed over the phone. Poorer people were much more likely to come into the office to file.
So as an attorney filing a claim for a disabled person who doesn’t have internet or isn’t proficient to set up an online account, I will file the internet claim and then they will have to make a trip to the local SSA office to verify identity?
Yes
Can any one say class action?
Might as well call the Kool Aid Guy, congress is letting them do this if you havent been paying attention.
NOSSCR sent out a blast e-mail to its members this morning indicating it has requested the answer to this and other important questions that this proposed policy creates. Hopefully, when filing a third party internet app for our clients, we can authenticate their ID for them.
As if the 75K to 85K visitors per week this change will add were not enough, SSA stopped the Enumeration at Entry (EBE) program. So, 1M to 2M more people immigrants new citizens must now visit field offices for Social Social cards. That's a total of OVER 4 MILLION MORE FIELD OFFICE VISITORS PER YEAR.
When did it stop?
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