Cecily O'Connor
RedwoodAge.com

As Social Security Administration staff dwindles, concern is rising about the handling of claims as the number of retiring boomers soars.  

(AOA Photo)

The fear is that the SSA won't be able to handle a flood of claims by 78 million boomers unless it receives more funding. Final appropriations to the agency have fallen below requests between 2002 and 2008, according to analysis by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The agency is requesting $10.4 billion for administrative expenses in fiscal 2009 - consistent with 2008's request, but up from the $9.74 billion that was actually approved that year.

In the meantime, staffing and funding constraints are hurting field office services, according to the GAO. And it's not clear how the agency's push to expand the use of electronic services will reduce a backlog of disability hearings, one-hour wait times at field offices and unanswered customer calls at US offices. More than 8 percent on online users also wait more than an hour.

"The agency basically has been starved of funding," said Witold Skwierczynski, president of the American Federation of Government Employees' (AFGE) Social Security Council. "And the unfortunate victims are the American public who rely on SSA to provide them and their families with retirement, disability and survivor's benefit security."

The number of staff in field offices dropped 4.4 percent between 2005 to 2008, according to the GAO. The reductions have added to the pressure placed on field office staff, resulting in higher stress and lower morale. 

To help them get by, SSA has deferred work deemed as a lower priority. That includes conducting reviews of beneficiaries' continuing eligibility. However, deferring reviews isn't a win-win. It means that beneficiaries who no longer qualify for benefits may still receive payments erroneously.

Most people visit a field office to apply for Social Security cards, retirement and disability benefits, or establish direct deposit. The visits are increasing, too, rising by about 2.5 million customers to 44.4 million between fiscal 2006 and 2008. As boomers age, SSA expects a 13 percent rise in old-age and survivor's insurance, disability, and supplemental security income claims over the next 10 years.

'Dire Situation'
The union has testified before Congress about its concerns over low SSA staffing levels. The situation is becoming more critical because the SSA itself will experience a retirement wave agency-wide in the next seven years. It projects that 44 percent of its staff will retire by 2016.

 A move to online services isn't a full-proof solution to compensate for fewer employees either, Skwierczynski warned. "Understaffing and under-budgeting, as well as agency's drive to have the American public file their claims over the Internet, have created a dire situation at the Social Security Administration," Skwierczynski said.

Most field staff said that real gains from automation will likely be seen by future generations. 

"SSA’s vision for its "eService" program is that the public, businesses, and government agencies will be able to conduct all business through secure, electronic channels - thereby increasing the efficiency with which the agency can serve the public," the GAO report said. 

But it isn't clear how the expansion of online service will entirely mitigate the increasing SSA workload as boomers retire, GAO noted. Much work needs to be done to determine what types of field office changes can eliminate backlogs and improve service, for example. 

Finding answers to these problems is critical. That's because customer service is suffering. More than 3 million customers in offices waited for over one hour to be served in fiscal 2007. The unanswered call rate was likely even higher.

These factors likely contributed to a 3 percent drop in SSA's overall customer satisfaction rating, falling to 81 percent in fiscal year 2008 from 84 percent three years prior, according to GAO.

As staffing resolutions are considered, the agency shouldn't overlook input from individuals in the field offices, urged the union, which is especially concerned about review of Internet claims. It is also calling for the current SSA commissioner, Michael Astrue, to step down.