From the SOAR Director: Social Security Changes Fuel Concern Among Recipients, Advocates

In recent months, Social Security recipients and their advocates have been voicing concerns about the Trump administration’s plan to gut more than 7,000 jobs across the Social Security Administration and how it will impact retirees’ ability to receive their monthly benefit checks.

While the administration again claims this is in the name of efficiency, its allegations of waste, fraud and abuse within the agency have already been proven to be untrue.

For example, last July, the social security administration’s inspector general released a report that showed less than 1 percent of the payments authorized by the agency from 2015 to 2022 were deemed as “improper.”    

Even so, in March, Musk-led DOGE, announced even more changes that will impact millions of Americans who have paid into Social Security over the course of their working lives, limiting access and effectively curtailing benefits.

The following are just a few of the many SSA changes announced in March:

1. New requirement for in-person identity checks: The administration has moved to require in-person identity checks for all new SSA applicants along with anyone who wants to change their direct deposit information. This change will prove to be particularly cumbersome, given the fact that in-person options are limited and shrinking.

• Dozens of SSA Offices Closing Nationwide: The administration plans to shutter nearly 50 Social Security offices in 18 states, with the majority of the closings in the South and Southeast; and,

• Discontinuing SSA Payments by Paper Check: Nearly 500,000 Social Security recipients will no longer be able to receive their monthly benefit by paper check as of September.

While the Trump administration made many promises to leave Social Security untouched, these unnecessary and baseless changes will create significant challenges for millions of America’s elderly and most vulnerable.