Social Security Admin. to require in-person identity checks for new and existing recipients

WASHINGTON -- In an effort to bounds fraudulent claims, the Social Security Administration volition enforce tighter identity-proofing measures - which volition necessitate millions of recipients and applicants to sojourn bureau tract offices alternatively than interact with the bureau implicit the phone.

Beginning March 31st, radical volition nary longer beryllium capable to verify their individuality to the SSA implicit the telephone and those who cannot decently verify their individuality implicit the agency's "my Social Security" online service, volition beryllium required to sojourn an bureau tract bureau successful idiosyncratic to implicit the verification process, bureau enactment told reporters Tuesday.

The alteration volition use to caller Social Security applicants and existing recipients who privation to alteration their nonstop deposit information.

Retiree advocates pass that the alteration volition negatively interaction older Americans successful agrarian areas, including those with disabilities, mobility limitations, those who unrecorded acold from SSA offices and person constricted net access.

The program besides comes arsenic the bureau plans to shutter dozens of Social Security offices passim the state and has already laid retired plans to laic disconnected thousands of workers.

In summation to the individuality verification change, the bureau announced that it plans to expedite processing of recipients' nonstop deposit alteration requests - some successful idiosyncratic and online - to 1 concern day. Previously, online nonstop deposit changes were held for 30 days.

"The Social Security Administration is losing implicit $100 cardinal a twelvemonth successful nonstop deposit fraud," Leland Dudek, the agency's acting commissioner, said connected a Tuesday evening telephone with reporters - his archetypal telephone with the media. "Social Security tin amended support Americans portion expediting service."

He said a occupation with eliminating fraudulent claims is that "the accusation that we usage done knowledge-based authentication is already successful the nationalist domain."

"This is simply a communal consciousness measure," Dudek added.

More than 72.5 cardinal people, including retirees and children, person status and disablement benefits done the Social Security Administration.

Connecticut Rep. John Larson, the apical Democrat connected the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, said successful a connection that "by requiring seniors and disabled Americans to enroll online oregon successful idiosyncratic astatine the aforesaid tract offices they are trying to close, alternatively than implicit the phone, Trump and Musk are trying to make chaos and inefficiencies astatine SSA truthful they tin privatize the system."

The DOGE website says that leases for 47 Social Security tract offices crossed the country, including successful Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky and North Carolina, person been oregon volition beryllium ended. However, Dudek downplayed the interaction of its offices shuttering, saying galore were tiny distant proceeding sites that served fewer members of the public.

Many Americans person been acrophobic that SSA bureau closures and monolithic layoffs of national workers - portion of an effort by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to shrink the size of the national authorities - volition marque getting benefits adjacent much difficult.

Musk has pushed debunked theories astir Social Security and described the national payment programs arsenic rife with fraud, and called it a "Ponzi scheme" suggesting the programme volition beryllium a superior people successful his crusade to trim authorities spending.

Voters person flooded municipality halls crossed the state to question Republican lawmakers astir the Trump administration's cuts, including its plans for the old-age benefits program.

In summation a radical of labour unions past week sued and asked a national tribunal for an exigency bid to halt DOGE from accessing the delicate Social Security information of millions of Americans.