Those concerns are personal for Jacqueline Lake of Maybrook, New York, who is here to ask about her husband’s benefits. Lake, 65, is deaf and uses sign language. “If they reduce staff, they won’t have anybody for an interpreter,” she says.
Lake is especially concerned that the SSA will seek to push more beneficiaries online to get help. She says she doesn’t have a computer. She does have a smartphone, which she calls her “lifeline,” but struggles to browse the web and find what she needs online. “I just don’t know where to look for things, or what to look for,” she says.
Even those who want to use remote services can be stymied. James Rollins Sr., 65, a management consultant and the former president of the Middletown NAACP, has been trying to fix an error he made in enrolling for Medicare last year that caused a problem with his premium payments, interrupting his coverage. He called the SSA and was told he had to print out a form and bring it to an office to get reinstated.
“You can’t just drop it off. You have to take a number and wait, simply to hand the form off to someone,” Rollins says. He found this “analog approach” frustrating.
“Something’s wrong with that picture, and what they’re doing in Washington, I can’t see this helping,” he says. “If they’re cutting staff, they’re doing a further disservice to the people who have worked their lives to support this country by paying taxes.”
— Martha C. White
Suitland, Maryland: ‘There’s nobody being called’
When Gale Sloan, 66, retired in 2022, she found applying for Social Security benefits a reasonably easy task. So, when a friend started going through the process this year, Sloan volunteered to show her the ropes. That’s what brings her to the SSA office in Suitland, just outside Washington, D.C., on April 14.
While her friend sits with about 50 other people inside a packed waiting room, Sloan stretches her legs outside. She expects to be here a while. “I just asked the guy that was working back there how many people are in front of us, and he said 16,” she says. “They’re making things so difficult now.”
Sloan isn’t the only frustrated customer here. Many visitors complain of long lines, confusion about processes and procedures, and an inability to get the answers they need.
Angela Tunnell, 77, says she tried to avoid coming in entirely by calling Social Security’s national helpline to get information she needed to do her taxes. “I was put on hold for 120 minutes,” she says. After waiting all that time, she got disconnected, so she headed to the office to try her luck in person.
Pam Donbrosky, 70, wants to apply for divorced-spouse benefits on her former partner’s earnings record. She, too, tried calling first and was told she could make a phone appointment to discuss her case. The earliest available date was May 30.
“I thought that maybe I could come in person and get this rolling,” she says. But after waiting two hours to speak to an SSA agent, she was sent home to wait for her original appointment.
Not everyone is fazed by the long lines. Retiree Tyrone Harris misplaced the SSA-1099 form he needed to complete his taxes. He’s been waiting about half an hour but stepped outside the office to return a phone call. “I could have made an appointment, but I walked right in,” he says. “It’s not bad.”
Others are less patient. Crystalyn Gale, 62, took one look at the line and decided to come back another day.
Gale says she plans to retire this year and wants guidance on applying for her benefits. She wasn’t certain if she would have to come in person or could do it online. “I wanted to physically talk to somebody just to make sure,” she says. “But it is crazy overcrowded.”
Chester Austin, 80, will also take his chances on another day. He says he came to inquire about eligibility for a retroactive “bonus check” available to some former government workers who receive both Social Security and pensions. Upon arrival, he got a ticket marked C295, representing his place in line at a letter-designated window. While waiting his turn, he saw that the last number called had been C281, and nobody was behind the “C” window.
“There’s nobody being called. Never been called for a C,” Austin says. “So why should I sit there?”
— Tamara E. Holmes