Don’t Expect Much Help from Social Security Administration

While many people discuss the financial condition of Social Security, few people, even those in Congress, pay attention to the quality of the bureaucracy. This post argues that the service offered by the Social Security Administration is poor and becoming poorer. The SSA has steadily reduced the services it provides to us.

In a recent report, Acting Social Security Commissioner Carolyn Colvin said “our top priority is to focus on our customers — the American public” but went on to acknowledge that, in Fiscal Year 2013, the agency’s “overall service suffered” and “service delivery times have increased.”

A combination of budget cuts, the sequester and questionable decisions by the Social Security Administration have led to massive field-office closings, reduced hours at offices that are still open and painfully long hold times for callers.

Reuters columnist Mark Miller, who has done magnificent reporting on the Social Security service cuts, recently noted that the Social Security Administration received less than its budget request in 14 of the last 16 years.