Social Security to Mail Fewer Benefits Estimates

The stop-start nature of benefits estimates from Social Security continues. For a brief period, Social Security mailed paper statements of estimated benefits to every U.S. workers who had enough earnings to qualify for retirement benefits. Since then, Social Security’s periodically saved money by limiting the number of statements it mailed. Recently, Social Security posted a notice on its web site that only those age 60 and over, not receiving benefits, and don’t have a registered mySocialSecurity account will receive mailed statements of estimates. Social Security is trying to encourage everyone to open an online mySocialSecurity account on its web site and do most of their business with SS through the account. Here are some details.

Either way, Social Security’s customer support will get even worse. That “support” is particularly awful for the million people who are now waiting for a hearing to determine if they’re eligible for disability benefits.

This said, I believe Social Security bears much of the responsibility for its terrible customer support. Those in charge have failed to properly train their 64,000 employees about the system’s rules. Yes, this is a very tall task given that the rules are beyond complex. But as a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office study showed, Social Security claim reps aren’t even getting the basics right.

As for the top brass, they are asleep at the wheel. They have produced benefit-application forms which are seemingly designed to trip you up, but that could be fixed in a day. The Social Security Administration’s website is chock-full of misinformation.