Senate reports shows more SSA field offices are closing

The United States Senate Special Committee on Aging recently issued a rather eye-opening report concerning the accessibility of services offered by the Social Security Administration.

Here, the investigators determined that 64 SSA field offices have closed their doors since 2010, an agency record for the most closures in any five-year period.

The report also made the following discoveries:

• 533 temporary SSA mobile offices, designed to serve more remote areas of the country, have been shut down.
• 1,245 field offices remain open, but hours have been reduced.
• Of the 43 million people who visited SSA field offices in 2013, 43 percent of those who wanted an appointment had to wait for over three weeks.

As if all of this wasn't disturbing enough, consider that the number of people receiving retirement benefits has jumped by nearly 20 percent over the last ten years, while the number the number of people receiving disability benefits has jumped by 38 percent over the same time period.

Experts forecast that these numbers will likely continue to get even higher as the sizeable baby boomer population continues to age, meaning more services will be needed.

In a hearing before the Aging Committee this week, Nancy Berryhill, the SSA's deputy commissioner for operations, acknowledged the closings and attributed them to budget cuts.

However, she also indicated that no field office closings were undertaken without careful consideration and, more significantly, the agency had significantly enhanced its online presence such that many tasks can be performed via computer and without a trip to an area office.  

For their part, the committee members appeared dissatisfied with this explanation, pointing to the fact that many older or disabled Americans may not know how to properly navigate the Internet to accomplish their desired tasks, while still others may lack access altogether.

'The fact of the matter is, millions of seniors and disabled Americans are not accustomed to doing business online,'' said Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). ''Even as computer and broadband technologies become more widespread, the idea that the Social Security Administration can serve beneficiaries primarily online ignores the very real needs of the senior and disabled populations.''

It remains unclear how the SSA or the committee plans to address this problem of exploding numbers of recipients, fewer field offices and perhaps overreliance on the Internet. Whatever the solution, here's hoping it doesn't compromise the wellbeing of the millions of disabled Americans who rely on their SSD benefits to live.

Source: The Boston Globe, "Social Security closes offices as baby boomers age," Stephen Ohlemacher, June 18, 2014