"Social Security Must Preserve Face-to-Face Services"

Statement

As Baby Boomers reach retirement age, more and more Americans today are receiving Social Security benefits. Yet, despite this substantial increase in caseload, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is actually closing field offices. In the past five years, the SSA has closed 64 of approximately 1,245 field offices--the largest field office reduction in history--and shuttered 533 temporary mobile offices. Furthermore, it has reduced field office hours and started closing some offices at noon on Wednesdays last year.

Nearly one in four Maine residents--about 315,000 people--receives retirement, survivor, or disability benefits through the SSA. These citizens are now served by eight field offices located throughout the state, where a trained staff helps them get important documents and sort through the complexities of the Social Security and Medicare programs so they can apply for and get the benefits they have earned.

Until recently, there were nine field offices in Maine. In 2011, however, the Social Security Administration closed the Rumford Office, replacing it with a two-way video monitor located at the town library and connected to the Social Security field office in Auburn, about 50 miles away.

The Social Security Administration has been pushing for years to reduce the face-to-face services it provides through its field offices and to force beneficiaries to interact with the agency online or over the phone. I am particularly troubled to learn of a draft plan prepared for the SSA by the National Academy of Public Administrators called "Vision 2025," which proposes that the SSA shift from face-to-face services to online systems as the primary means of serving beneficiaries over the next 11 years.

This is completely unrealistic. The fact is, millions of seniors and disabled Americans are not accustomed to doing business online, and, particularly in rural areas, many do not have access to computers or high-speed internet services in their homes. 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 many seniors and disabled Americans.

I recently co-chaired a hearing before the Senate Committee on Aging in which we examined the impact that this reduction in face-to-face services has on beneficiaries. I was pleased to invite Tammy DeLong, the Medicare Specialist for the Aroostook Area Agency on Aging, located in Presque Isle, to testify before the Committee. Tammy works closely with the local SSA field office and estimates that she served 1,400 senior citizen clients last year alone.

Her first-hand experience made her a valuable witness in explaining the advantages of face-to-face service. "If a beneficiary wants to know and understand something, they do not want to seek it out online or on the phone. They want to sit and talk to someone in person, where they are a name and not just a number, which is why the local Social Security office is so important," Tammy said in her testimony. "And for me, it would be difficult to adequately serve people and get issues fixed in a timely manner should the local office be closed."

Also of concern is the lack of transparency in the SSA's decision-making for closing field offices or reducing their hours. Although it is directed by Congress to report its policies and procedures for closing and consolidating field offices, the Senate Aging Committee has been unable to confirm whether the SSA is following the procedures it claims to have in place. Moreover, the SSA does not appear to seek out or allow public input until after a decision to close an office has been made--essentially presenting the local community with a "fait accompli."

This must change. While I do not object to the agency diversifying the way it provides its services where appropriate, the Social Security Administration must take into account the impact on the beneficiaries it is supposed to be serving.

Source