If you’ve ever experienced a long wait to get help from the Social Security Administration, the agency has some good news for you - the pace is about to pick up a bit.
Repeated cuts to the agency’s administrative budget over the past decade by Congress have forced the closing of field offices, staff cuts, and long delays on Social Security’s toll-free line - and an enormous backlog of people waiting for appeal hearings on disability insurance claims.
This week, the Social Security Administration announced that it will restore some previously-cut office hours in field offices, and more than 1,000 new employees to speed things up on its toll-free line and in its processing centers.
On this week’s edition of the RetirementRevised.com podcast, I talk with one of the nation’s top experts on the administrative workings of Social Security - Kathleen Romig, senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Click the player icon at the top of the page to hear our conversation.
You’ll find more on this subject in a post I wrote this week for NextAvenue.org.
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Social Security takes steps to address customer service woes