WASHINGTON (AP) In an effort to limit fraudulent claims, the Social Security Administration will impose tighter identity-proofing measures which will require millions of recipients and applicants to visit agency field offices rather than interact with the agency over the phone.
Beginning March 31st, people will no longer be able to verify their identity to the SSA over the phone and those who cannot properly verify their identity over the agencys my Social Security online service, will be required to visit an agency field office in person to complete the verification process, agency leadership told reporters Tuesday.
The change will apply to new Social Security applicants and existing recipients who want to change their direct deposit information.
Retiree advocates warn that the change will negatively impact older Americans in rural areas, including those with disabilities, mobility limitations, those who live far from SSA offices and have limited internet access.
The plan also comes as the agency plans to shutter dozens of Social Security offices throughout the country and has already laid out plans to lay off thousands of workers.
In addition to the identity verification change, the agency announced that it plans to expedite processing of recipients direct deposit change requests both in person and online to one business day. Previously, online direct deposit changes were held for 30 days.
The Social Security Administration is losing over $100 million a year in direct deposit fraud, Leland Dudek, the agencys acting commissioner, said on a Tuesday evening call with reporters his first call with the media. Social Security can better protect Americans while expediting service.
He said a problem with eliminating fraudulent claims is that the information that we use through knowledge-based authentication is already in the public domain.
This is a common sense measure, Dudek added.
More than 72.5 million people, including retirees and children, receive retirement and disability benefits through the Social Security Administration.
Connecticut Rep. John Larson, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, said in a statement that by requiring seniors and disabled Americans to enroll online or in person at the same field offices they are trying to close, rather than over the phone, Trump and Musk are trying to create chaos and inefficiencies at SSA so they can privatize the system.
The DOGE website says that leases for 47 Social Security field offices across the country, including in Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky and North Carolina, have been or will be ended. However, Dudek downplayed the impact of its offices shuttering, saying many were small remote hearing sites that served few members of the public.
Many Americans have been concerned that SSA office closures and massive layoffs of federal workers part of an effort by President Donald Trump and Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency to shrink the size of the federal government will make getting benefits even more difficult.
Musk has pushed debunked theories about Social Security and described the federal benefit programs as rife with fraud, and called it a Ponzi scheme suggesting the program will be a primary target in his crusade to reduce government spending.
Voters have flooded town halls across the country to question Republican lawmakers about the Trump administrations cuts, including its plans for the old-age benefits program.
In addition a group of labor unions last week sued and asked a federal court for an emergency order to stop DOGE from accessing the sensitive Social Security data of millions of Americans.
Beginning March 31st, people will no longer be able to verify their identity to the SSA over the phone and those who cannot properly verify their identity over the agencys my Social Security online service, will be required to visit an agency field office in person to complete the verification process, agency leadership told reporters Tuesday.This is a bit different compared to what this topic is named.
I dont know much about social security. Is this a one time thing or will people have to do this monthly?
This is a bit different compared to what this topic is named.
Just saying, as someone on social security I came in here kind of pissed thinking every single person is going to have to make some sort of office visit.
I dont know much about social security. Is this a one time thing or will people have to do this monthly?Nah, not monthly. You normally verify that you are indeed still chronic illness'd, still very survivor'd, or still very old like every other 2 years or so. (Although suspiciously since the orange dumbass and muskrat has been around I had 2 of the exact same social security verification letters in the mail like 2 months apart from one another, =/ ).
Nah, not monthly. You normally verify that you are indeed still chronic illness'd, still very survivor'd, or still very old like every other 2 years or so. (Although suspiciously since the orange dumbass and muskrat has been around I had 2 of the exact same social security verification letters in the mail like 2 months apart from one another, =/ ).
Usually you do this verification via a letter that will be sent to you in the mail or going to the my social security website. (The form on the website is the exact same as the letter that is sent in the mail).
This is a bit different compared to what this topic is named.Which I believe how its worked before a long time ago. I remember helping my friend gets his when he retired. He was born in a very rural town in the 30's. He paid in all those years but somehow never had a real birth certificate. So we had to get a affidavit attesting his birth, his name, his parents and where he was born. This couldn't be done over the phone and for the time we did this the internet was barely a thing. (97 i think). His first computer was a 98 windows machine. Its amazing how things have changed.
Just saying, as someone on social security I came in here kind of pissed thinking every single person is going to have to make some sort of office visit.
What happens if you say you aren't old anymore, that you've gotten better?!?
OMG, why would they ask an older person to verify they are still old?!?
this doesn't really explain why they want me to verify my identity in person, but who actually knows what's going on over there anywaysThey are trying to make people think there are fake 130yo people collecting SS. They want everyone mad and confused.
this doesn't really explain why they want me to verify my identity in person, but who actually knows what's going on over there anyways
this doesn't really explain why they want me to verify my identity in person, but who actually knows what's going on over there anywaysThey want you to verify your identity in person to gum up the system so they can point to that, say "See, it doesn't work," and kill it while idiots cheer.
They want you to verify your identity in person to gum up the system so they can point to that, say "See, it doesn't work," and kill it while idiots cheer.
Even tho it worked just fine the previous 90 years.
Sigh, people are stupid so it's going to work and nobody will question it, huh
My Wife's stepmom disappeared off the face of the earth and we assume she's dead. She didn't have an online profile and she had addiction issues. No family except an estranged Son who stole from her and moved to another state. We just assume someone is collecting her SS benefits. I mean, people definitely fraud the system. I don't know if this is the way to handle it, though.
This should make older voters very happy*.
The Social Security Administration is losing over $100 million a year in direct deposit fraud, Leland Dudek, the agencys acting commissioner, said on a Tuesday evening call with reporters his first call with the media. Social Security can better protect Americans while expediting service.
This is basically how the form is laid out:Most all auditing like this costs more money than it saves. They'll half ass who needs to be audited and instead audit everyone. They could do more targeted audits, but that's even more expensive to implement. They'll spend hundreds to save pennies. This happens literally every time they try to tighten up these services
The letter: "Heya' guy! Just doing our yearly/whatever check in to make sure you are totally still chronically ill and/or old! We might have to re-evaluate your case if this letter is not responded to in a timely manner!"
Me: "Yes, I still have the chronic illness I was born with. No, I cannot work"
(Not even joking about this part. It sucks. I can get into a whole thing where even if I can theoretically manage to do a work from home type of situation then this will then disqualify those of us from the various programs we are on since this will tell the government "this person is kind of sick, but not all the way sick. The small amount they make from this work at home thing will be enough ". Also they have XXXX amount of money in the bank. We need to remove you from XXXX and XXXX" (thus you can get demolished by the costs of monthly doctor visits....sometimes to multiple doctors as is the life of someone with chronic illness, our medicine costs, the gas to even get to those appointments because you no doubt have to make a drive to get to specialist doctor offices that is not in your area. Etc. Its a lot).
The letter...."Hmmmm. OK. Can you list the last 3 times you had a doctors appointment, and list what kind of appointments these were".
*I write it down since this part is easy*
The letter......"K, K. Can you list the last 3 times you had a extended hospital stay? Emergency room visits. Put down the reason please"
Me......"Goes to mychart and dig up some hospital discharge papers"
The letter......"I seeeee. Did your doctor give you a full examination and stated that you indeed cannot work and that your whatever illness will never get better?
Me......"Yes. My last doctor's appointment was like a week ago. My medical chart is the size of like, 5 bibles. They have confirmed that my chronic illness is still here, it will never get better, and we all do what we can so it does not get drastically worse in the new few years"
Letter......."So we do not need to terminate your social security right? We might need to. Do you want to appeal/get reinstated if we do?"
Me......."Please no".
That is basically how it is.....sometimes this form is filled out every year, sometimes its every 2 years or 3. If you don't fill out this form and send it back (which is easier to do online. Last time I filled out a form was back in january and I did that via online. The december one I got I sent back in the mail and I'm assuming it got lost or something. =/) you will get booted off. To get back on social security you have to go through a very lengthy process that can take years.
Just as much/like the same as getting on disability for the first time.....when I was a kid my parents had to get a lawyer for me because the state of south carolina was really fighting the fact that I was born with a chronic illness and actually got denied like once. Luckily for me all this stuff carried over into adulthood, but I feel for those people who miss these damn letters/the date they want this stuff sent in for review.
*Lol just like how they keep asking me if I still got chronic illness, yeah, they going to keep asking you if you still old over, and over, and over. I guess they assume some people found a fountain of youth and just reverted back to their 20s at some point or something.*