Head of Social Security challenged by lawmakers over long lines, wait times

WASHINGTON — The head of the Social Security Administration testified before Congress on Wednesday that customer service has drastically improved during the last year, though he declined to offer ways to address the program's dire financial situation. 

Commissioner Frank Bisignano instead deferred to lawmakers, who will need to make changes to the safety net program for tens of millions of Americans before it reaches insolvency in six years.  

Bisignano’s testimony came just one day after the Social Security trustees said in their annual report the Old Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund will “become depleted” in the fourth quarter of 2032, earlier than previously expected. Once that happens, benefits will automatically drop by 22% and gradually decrease from there. 

“I always thought my job was to make it perform as well as possible so you all have a set of options and choices to decide on how this great American program, which is, you know, fundamentally called by some the largest insurance program out there, others could call it the largest retirement program out there. Anyway, the idea is to make it perform well so you all can make the decisions,” Bisignano said. 

Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee’s subcommittee on Social Security and subcommittee on Work and Welfare, who held the two-hour hearing, were pleased with the statistics Bisignano shared about his administration of Social Security. 

Democrats on the panels, however, were skeptical that he was giving a full picture of the delays that some Americans face when trying to apply for benefits or ask about an issue they’re having with the program. 

Illinois Democratic Rep. Danny Davis, ranking member on the Work and Welfare subcommittee, said the Social Security Administration’s “statements about customer service do not always appear to reflect the reality Americans experience.” 

“Press releases claiming dramatic improvements in SSA customer service, particularly on the 800-number, conflict with reports from AARP and our constituents,” Davis said. “People across the country report waiting in long lines at Social Security offices or being turned away and told to make appointments, only to discover no appointments are available. 

“Similarly, it seems misleading to claim a zero call wait time for seniors that waited hours or days for a call back, or to praise short call wait times for people whose problems are not resolved.”

Debate over statistics

Bisignano testified that he ushered in “the best all-around performance ever at the Social Security Administration.”

“More than 99% of our field offices are open and serving the public, with average wait times reduced to 20 minutes, a 30% improvement. No field offices closed due to staffing,” he said. “We now answer 90% of calls to our 800-number and have reduced average wait time to five minutes, a 75% improvement.”

Bisignano added that “web transactions” have risen by 37% and that there has been a 21% rise in account creations.

California Democratic Rep. Judy Chu said she found the statistics Bisignano shared “extremely misleading,” in part, because the administration classifies anyone who requests a call back instead of waiting on hold as a zero minute hold time. 

“The American people deserve accurate information on how long they can expect to wait when trying to get help for their benefits,” she said.

Chu then shared the story of a woman who tried to schedule an in-person appointment to apply for survivor benefits after her husband died in July but was unable to get one until October. 

“Once she finally got an appointment, she then had to wait at least four months," she said. 

Nevada Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford pressed Bisignano about wait times at the Las Vegas field office for disability hearings, which he said take nearly a year. 

“My office continues to hear from seniors, people with disabilities and working families who cannot get answers and cannot access benefits that they deserve,” Horsford said. “Last year, you promised improvements. Today, Las Vegas disability applicants are waiting nearly 11 months.”

Horsford then asked if Bisignano would “designate a senior SSA point person to work directly with me and my office on unresolved constituent cases.” 

Bisignano said he would send the head of disability to come see Horsford in his office. 

Social Security solvency

While the subcommittees and Bisignano barely scratched the surface of Social Security’s financial problems during the hearing, a separate event hosted by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget delved into those struggles. 

Karen Glenn, chief actuary at the Social Security Administration, said during her presentation on the trustees report that addressing the program’s budget woes is “a simple math problem” but “a difficult political problem.”

“We can either raise scheduled revenue by about one-third, reduce scheduled benefits by about one-fourth or some combination of the two,” she said. “So it sounds simple, but not so easy in practice.”

Glenn said one of the purposes of the annual report to Congress is to “provide information to assess solvency and the changes needed to eliminate those shortfalls.”

"The trustees have consistently advised that Congress should act sooner rather than later,” she said. “We are just about out of time for that sooner. We are basically at the later."

Mark Sarney, director of Social Security policy at CRFB, said he doesn’t believe Congress will be able to add to the annual deficit in order to avoid a drop-off in benefits since “we'll probably have debt problems way before 2032.”

That leaves lawmakers in the House and Senate with complex choices to make during the next few years.

“Hopefully there will be a growing call within Congress to actually get serious and do something,” Sarney said. “Because if you let the cut happen, that's like 1% of the national economy that suddenly doesn't go out in checks, which may matter less in some parts of the country, but in others, where most of the population is depending on Social Security, that's going to be a hammer blow to both people's lives and the economy. And nobody wants that.”