The Social Security Administration’s ability to transact business with the public has been deteriorating for more than a decade. But the unprecedented shakeup and downsizing launched last year by the Trump administration have made it much more difficult to do business with the most important government agencies serving retirees.
The agency has struggled with inconsistent and inadequate funding of its administrative budget going back to the Reagan administration in the 1980s, and resources have been on a roller coaster ever since. Between 2010 and 2024, the budget and staffing fell sharply—during a time when the number of beneficiaries was soaring.
But customer service at the SSA really fell off a cliff last year when Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” turned its fire on the agency. DOGE pushed out 7,500 SSA employees in 2025, with many of the cuts coming from customer service and information technology staff. DOGE also hollowed out the agency’s senior career leadership staff, causing an unprecedented loss of institutional expertise. The SSA now has fewer employees than at any time since 1967, when it served 52 million fewer beneficiaries. Field office staff numbers have dropped precipitously, and staff has been scrambled to meet demand, with calls to the agency’s toll-free service line routed to field office staff all over the country.
It’s also become more difficult to know how the SSA is performing. The agency stopped releasing monthly reports on many of its customer-focused service metrics last year, including 800-number wait times, how long it takes applicants to get appointments at field offices, and requests that are waiting to be processed.
Incredibly enough, at a time when the SSA desperately needs full-time leadership, Commissioner Frank Bisignano is doing double duty, running not only the SSA but another massive federal agency, the Internal Revenue Service.
An investigation by The Washington Post found that the SSA is confronting record backlogs in processing benefit applications and long wait times on its toll-free line.
A recent study of SSA customer service by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found a surge in dropped phone calls, calls answered by staffers unable to resolve issues, and long waits for appointments in local offices. And there’s been a 27% increase in appeals for disability insurance claims in the past year.
“There is a lot of frustration with people not being able to get through on the phone, not being able to walk in for service, and feeling like, even when they do get through to somebody, that person isn’t able to resolve their issue,” says Kate Lang, director of federal income security at Justice in Aging, a national advocacy organization.
Lang is especially worried about delays at the SSA’s payment centers, which are responsible for getting benefits into your pocket after they have been approved. “There’s a huge problem at the payment centers that isn’t really being talked about,” she says. “Even when people are awarded benefits, it’s taking a long time for them to get into pay status. Right now, it can take two or three months after somebody’s been found eligible for retirement benefits to get into pay status, and that’s just unprecedented,” she says.
Another frustration people are experiencing is bouncing around the SSA phone system. When you do get through, you may be speaking with someone who can’t resolve your issue or can’t locate the paperwork that needs to be addressed.
The loss of institutional knowledge, low staffing levels, and technology challenges mean that the damage will be long-lasting and difficult to repair. All of this is especially frustrating when you consider that we all pay for the administration of Social Security via our payroll tax contributions and that the SSA’s administrative expenses are very low—just 0.5% of total outlays in 2024. (The rest went to benefit payments.)
“We pay taxes not just for benefits, but to make sure we can access those benefits when we need them,” says Kathleen Romig, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and co-author of the report. “Delays can have a dramatic, life-changing impact if you’ve had a death in the family and need to replace a spouse’s wages with a Social Security check in order to be able to pay the rent, or afford food or gas.”
The situation requires an extra level of preparedness when you need to do business with the SSA. That might include an application for retirement, disability, or signing up for Medicare Part A or B. Even paperwork matters that should be routine can also be a challenge, such as updating bank records or mailing addresses, or a name change.
With that backdrop, here are tips for minimizing the hassle.
Do business online whenever possible. If you haven’t yet set up an online SSA account, do it now. You can apply for retirement benefits and Medicare Part A and B at the SSA website. The SSA stopped mailing out benefit statements about a decade ago, except for individuals aged 60 or older who haven’t set up an online account. For most people, the only way to access the statement is online. Moreover, your account provides 24/7 access to a statement that projects your future benefits, and claiming it helps guard against identity theft—scammers can pose as you and claim your benefits.Don’t send original documents through the mail. In some cases, the SSA needs to see personal documents before approving benefits or updating records. The chaos at SSA means documents can be lost, so if the agency requires documentation, send copies. If SSA does need to see original documents, set up an appointment at a field office and bring the documents with you.Get an early start on applications. Social Security accepts applications for retirement benefits up to four months ahead of your intended benefit start date; Medicare applications can be filed up to three months ahead of the start date. (The Medicare application process at SSA will involve approval of Parts A and B and issuing you a benefit identification number; once you have that number, you can begin the process of applying for additional benefits, such as Part D prescription drugs, Medigap or a Medicare Advantage plan.) You can monitor basic information about the status of your application using the online portal, but be prepared to spend some time on the phone waiting for help if your benefit start date is nearing and you have not received a definitive email or snail mail confirmation.Call early. If you do need to call the SSA’s toll-free line (1-800-772-1213), do it early in the day when wait times tend to be lowest. Wait times also tend to be shorter later in the week and later in the month. The toll-free line opens at 8 a.m. in whatever time zone you live in. Don’t call late in the day. If the agency’s representatives don’t get to you before the line shuts down for the day, you won’t get a callback the following day. “If I was advising my mom, I’d tell her to call first thing in the morning,” Romig says.Call your legislator. If your problems at SSA are acute, Lang recommends contacting your representative in Congress for assistance. Lawmakers’ offices all have constituent services staff that can help you navigate federal agencies. “They can’t advocate for the SSA to make a particular decision, but they can poke the agency and get them to move things along,” Lang says.Book an appointment. If you do need to make a visit to your local office, book an appointment by calling the toll-free line. You can find a directory of local offices here. The SSA notes that it doesn’t necessarily turn away walk-ins, especially for “members of vulnerable populations, military personnel, people with terminal illnesses, and individuals with other situations requiring immediate or specialized attention.” There can be long waits to reserve appointments, so try walking into a local office if you have an urgent need for answers.
The general watchword, Romig says, is buyer beware.
“There are many fewer people available at the SSA to help you now–fewer people who can take your application, fewer who can process it, and fewer who can approve payment. That can lead to a lot of frustration, delays and errors.”