Trump administration's Social Security changes could limit access to benefits for millions

Significant changes will be coming for social security recipients starting on March 31st. Millions of Americans will no longer be able to verify their identity over the phone, creating a challenge for older Americans and those with disabilities. Stephanie Sy joins us now with more. This latest move by the Trump administration will require new and existing recipients to either verify themselves online or have their IDs verified in person. Even while more than 40 field offices are slated to be shut down by the Department of Government Efficiency. The changes are aimed at addressing the potential for fraudulent claims and improper payments, which amounted to $72 billion between 2015 to 2022. That's less than 1% of all the benefits dispersed during that time period. Advocates are raising concerns about the burden this could place on an already vulnerable population. For more on what this means going forward, I'm joined by Kathleen Romig, Director of Social Security and Disability Policy for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Kathleen, thank you so much for joining the NewsHour. So it seems the biggest change here is getting rid of the option to verify one's identity by phone. Who will that impact the most? It's going to impact anyone who struggles with the online verification system that SSA has. So that could include people who are just not comfortable using online services, which often does include older people and people with disabilities, which are the main populations that the Social Security Administration serves. It also means people who are not allowed to open a My Social Security account. So for example, children, their families will have to visit a Social Security office in person to authenticate their identities and to do business with the agency. It also affects people who perhaps don't have a driver's license or don't have a smartphone in order to use those online authentication tools. And of course, it's not just the elderly. There are 72.5 million Americans who receive these benefits, including children. I am curious how one does verify an ID by phone. The implication from the administration here is that that isn't a very secure way of verifying identification. Does this fix that? The way that typically identities are authenticated by phone is by asking questions that only the person with that identity would be able to answer. So this is very commonly used by the private financial industry as well. When you have trouble logging into your bank account or your mortgage lender's account, you would typically call and sort out any problems over the phone, and they'd ask you these knowledge-based questions. So that's what SSA has been doing, and it's a pretty common practice. It's not perfect, but no identity proofing method is perfect. So at the same time as these new requirements are set to go into effect, you have reports of Doge closing field offices, particularly in the South. They're also letting go of thousands of employees. The agency says these offices weren't used much since online virtual meetings became more popular and should be consolidated to save costs. What do you say to that? I think that anytime a field office closes to the public, it's going to have an impact on the people who live in that area. There's research that even shows that people are less likely to get the Social Security disability benefits that they have earned and that they are eligible for if a field office in their area closes. We should say that we did reach out to Trump administration officials to be interviewed on the topic, and they did pass on that today. But they have also announced other changes in these reforms, including announcing plans to expedite processing, for example, of direct deposit changes to one business day. It was 30 days. Isn't that a win for Social Security recipients? Well, if you are able to authenticate your identity online and make those changes online, then sure, faster processing makes sense. But the fact is, if you do have to go into a Social Security field office, as this new policy requires, then it's going to take you over a month to make that change. That's because there's already a two-hour hold time on the phone to get a call back from the Social Security administration to make an appointment, and then over a month-long wait on average to get an appointment in a field office. Groups like the AARP have long called on Congress to provide more resources to improving customer service at this administration, saying processing time for disability claims have doubled in just the past five years. Aren't changes due? And if so, what changes do you think should be prioritized? Well, the reason that it's taking the Social Security administration longer to process disability claims and too long to answer the phone and to make appointments with people is because there are already not enough staff members working at SSA. And that's because of years of underfunding. And so the Trump administration is actually moving to double down on those staff cuts. They're planning for another 7,000 staff cuts at the Social Security administration this year. So what that's going to mean is fewer people answering the phones, fewer people taking appointments, fewer people processing claims. And that's going to mean longer delays in each one of those areas, and it's going to make it harder for applicants and beneficiaries to access their benefits. And it's not just beneficiaries either, but it's going to affect people who are trying to access their Social Security statement, people who need a replacement Social Security card because they're seeking a job or just got married. These services affect everyone. Kathleen Romig with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Thank you, Kathleen. Thank you.