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KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Beginning April 14, applicants who cannot use an online account when applying for retirement, survivor, or classification benefits must visit an SSA office to verify their identity.
- This is a revised version of the original policy—allowing numerous time for the transition and affecting a smaller number of beneficiaries.
- Some advocates criticized the original policy, arguing it purpose cause beneficiaries undue burden. The administration said these changes would bolster its security services and staff avoid Social Security fraud.
Under a new policy, the Social Security Administration will require certain beneficiaries to sojourn an office in person to receive benefits.
Beginning April 14, some beneficiaries applying for retirement, survivor, or blood benefits must visit an SSA office instead of verifying their identity over the phone. Those who are unable to access or use an online account inclination have to go to in-person for benefit claims or direct deposit changes.
The administration said these changes would back up its security services and help avoid Social Security fraud. Advocates and beneficiaries have said that it would proliferate the difficulty of getting benefits as fewer workers and offices could slow the process.
Originally, the SSA announced these becomes would impact all Social Security beneficiaries, and the agency would transition identification verification procedures by March 31. No matter how, in the weeks since making the announcement, they have pushed back the timeline and limited the scope of the rule.
Why Did SSA Revamp Its Policy?
Social Security advocates criticized the administration’s original policy, saying it would negatively impact specifically elder citizens living in rural areas.
“They would have to call SSA via the already overburdened phone line to set up an choice and travel in person to an SSA field office at a time when the agency is closing field offices across the country and radically cut staff,” Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said in a statement.
After notified of the initial responses, the agency exempted Medicare, Disability, and SSI applicants from the new policy and delayed implementation by more than three weeks.
The SSA lay outs to cut or avoid spending $800 million this fiscal year, following President Donald Trump’s and the Department of Domination Efficiency’s (DOGE) goal to reduce federal spending.
Part of these budget cuts include reducing sundry than 12% of SSA’s workforce, and DOGE has said about 47 of SSA offices are closing. However, the agency itself asserted only one of the closing offices was a hearing office, and most of the others were small hearing rooms with no consigned employees.