Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano has agreed to have the agency’s inspector general audit SSA’s performance data and to publicly report a broader list of data, Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Wednesday after meeting with the longtime financial services businessman who took over the agency in May.
SSA changed what data it reports publicly last month, removing many metrics on the agency’s phone line — such as current call wait times, callback wait times, the number of people waiting on hold and the number waiting for a callback — and processing times for some benefits.
“More accurate data is absolutely essential to oversight,” said Warren. “So we've gotten commitment to an independent audit of those data and much more transparency about the data that will be posted.” …
Of course, the IG will take many months to do anything and may shade its report since it’s no longer truly independent.
8 comments:
That will solve everything. Great work Senator.
Frankie got called into the principal’s office. Expect the report no earlier than 2034 when the trust fund is insolvent.
OIG had maintained some of its independence. It just put out a report detailing service degradation as a direct result of staffing cuts. I wasn’t expecting that.
OK... so Monday I called about an appeal that has been stuck in limbo since APRIL. Amazingly (much to my britches-changing surprise!), the very next day a direct deposit was made into my account. THIS WAS NOT even looked at yet until i called. The rep emailed the specialist working on my case! I was shocked....that being said, it's still a mess in there. I told the rep I gave them an extra month (isn't a big deal as it's just a small amount) as I know they're short staffed. I won't say what she said, but i am still laughing. At least they still (or some of them) have a sense of humor. They are not allowed to commend directly, however. Her response was priceless. I wish I could type it here, I've never heard a rep rip into SSA like that, and in just 3 words. She totally made my day, AND I got back pay the very next day. Again... they are a skeleton crew. Oh, and I only had to wait 2 minutes? So, tho the phones might be good, pending appeals are WAY backed up. She did say she came across a claimants appeal that was from December, still waiting to be processed. I was floored at the service I got, but I know that is certainly NOT typical.
There is NO independence in this administration. Anybody who doesn’t play along is dismissed.
Smoke and mirrors - when a person requests a call back instead of waiting, the Agency is figuring that almost 0 minutes on the phone? So is that really an accurate representation of wait times?
Absolutely smoke and mirrors. And I hope OIG highlights them. Each 0-minute wait takes that 2-hour wait and makes it 1-hour average. Enough of that and it looks like phone service is amazing.
I also want to know if the bot is actually helping someone or do they hang up and call again in an attempt to actually get a human. I’ve called and played with the bot and never got an answer for any of my basic questions. I’d like to think there is a way to follow a person’s interaction with the bot and hear if the person actually got what they needed.
Legit point. But is that different than how it was calculated in 2024? Genuine question. Did they change it or have they just used the same misleading methodology that they inherited?
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