The Trump Social Security Administration has proposed a major change that can force thousands of people to appear in a shrinking list of field offices every week before they can receive benefits.
In an attempt to fight fraud, the SSA suggested citizens applying for social security or damages for disability by telephone Washington PostS
If they are unable to check their identity online, they will have to submit documents at their closest field office, according to the note sent last week, acting operating a Commissioner for Operations Doris Diaz for acting Social Security Commission Leland Dudek.
The memorandum acknowledged that the potential change could force approximately 75,000 to 85,000 people a week to seek field offices to confirm their identity and can lead to “increased challenges for vulnerable population”, “longer waiting times and processing time” and “increased demand for office meetings”, according to the memorandum. PostS
The change would disproportionately affect the older population, which may not be reasonable on the Internet and those with disabilities. The plaintiffs looking for field office will also have less to choose as more than 40 out of 1200 are calculated New York Times He reported, citing the advocacy group for social security. The list of offices planned to close is based on an unreliable list published by Doge, according to social security work. Elon Musk’s dock also said it would reduce 7,000 out of 57,000 SSA officials.
White House and Social Security Administration did not respond immediately FortuneRequest for comment.
SSA had previously been considering scrapping a telephone service for claims, Post He reported but retreated after an output report. Nevertheless, the SSA said the plaintiffs who want to change their bank account information will now have to do it online or personally and can no longer do it on the phone.
Almost every transaction in a field office requires an appointment that already takes months to take place as per Post.
The White House has repeatedly said that it would not reduce social security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits and said all changes were reduced by fraud. A report from July 2024 by the General Inspector of the Social Security Administration estimates that between the fiscal 2015 and the fiscal 2022 SSA sent $ 8.6 trillion payments. Less than 1% of payments, or $ 71.8 billion, were incorrect payments, according to the report.
The current Social Security Commissioner Dudek told telephone calls, the Agency “Studies Ways to Apply AI – in a safe, managed manner in accordance with” the management of the management and budget “to optimize and improve conversations”, according to Tuesday, received from NBC NEWS.
Dudek mentioned in the note that the agency was often mentioned in the media, which emphasizes employees.
“In the last month, this agency has observed an unprecedented level of media coverage, some of them are true and deserved, while some have not been actually and paint the agency in a very negative light,” he writes. “I know this is stressful for you and has caused disturbances in your life. Personally, I have made some mistakes that makes me a person like you. I promise you this, I will continue to make mistakes, but I will learn from them. My decisions will always be with the best intentions for this agency, the people we serve, and you.”
This story was originally presented on Fortune.com