Social Security Administration Backs Off Phone Service Changes, AARP Says | EUROtoday

The Social Security Administration has backed off on its plans to make extra older Americans journey to subject places of work once they apply for retirement advantages.

The company had deliberate to require anybody submitting for advantages or altering checking account data to confirm their identities in particular person as a substitute of over the telephone in the event that they had been unable to take action via the company’s web site.

The modifications had been alleged to take impact on Monday however have been referred to as off, in keeping with an announcement from the White House, which claimed the administration had found out learn how to detect fraudulent claims via the telephone and wouldn’t have to make folks show their identification in particular person.

“The Social Security anti-fraud team has worked around the clock in person to improve technological capabilities and they are now able to identify fraud on claims filed over the telephone,” White House spokeswoman Liz Huston mentioned in an emailed assertion.

In a Tuesday assertion on social media, the Social Security Administration mentioned, “Beginning on April 14, #SocialSecurity will perform an anti-fraud check on all claims filed over the telephone and flag claims that have fraud risk indicators.”

The plan to chop telephone service acquired main pushback from Democratic members of Congress and advocates for older Americans, similar to AARP, who mentioned visiting subject places of work would burden folks with restricted means who’d should drive for hours simply to indicate ID.

The identity-proofing scheme had been the brainchild of Elon Musk and his “Department of Government Efficiency” crew. Musk and President Donald Trump have falsely claimed Social Security fraudulently sends out thousands and thousands of funds within the names of individuals so previous they’ll’t presumably be alive. Musk additionally claimed the company was bombarded by telephone calls from fraudsters making an attempt to redirect folks’s profit funds, although obtainable knowledge suggests such scams are comparatively uncommon.

Social Security’s performing commissioner, Leland Dudek, mentioned the White House pushed him to make the telephone service modifications as quickly as potential. Dudek already delayed the modifications as soon as and mentioned they wouldn’t apply to incapacity claimants.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal assume tank, mentioned 6 million seniors didn’t dwell inside 45 minutes of their nearest subject workplace.

“This is great news for older Americans,” AARP’s Nancy LeaMond mentioned in an announcement. “We appreciate SSA listening to AARP and millions of Americans about the impact on their lives and providing better access to customer service for Social Security benefits.”

The telephone service cuts had been reversed the identical day Trump scrapped lots of the tariffs he’d introduced in opposition to U.S. buying and selling companions in a surprising dismantling of his signature financial coverage.