Social Security in-person identity checks opposed by advocates and
retirees alike
[March 20, 2025]
By FATIMA HUSSEIN and MATT SEDENSKY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Social Security Administration's plan to require
in-person identity checks for millions of new and existing recipients
while simultaneously closing government offices has sparked a furor
among lawmakers, advocacy groups and program recipients who are worried
that the government is placing unnecessary barriers in front of an
already vulnerable population.
The new requirements will impact anyone who needs to verify their bank
information with the agency, as well as families with children who
receive Social Security benefits and cannot verify a child's information
on the SSA website. They are intended to combat fraud and waste within
the system, which President Donald Trump and officials in his
administration have claimed are widespread.
The agency announced Tuesday that, beginning March 31, those who cannot
properly verify their identity over the agency’s “my Social Security”
online service will be required to visit an agency field office in
person to complete the verification process. They also announced
recently that Social Security field offices across the country will be
closing.
Of the 47 SSA field offices listed for closure on the Department of
Government Efficiency website, 26 are slated for closure this year, with
some taking effect as early as next month, according to an Associated
Press analysis of the data.
That change, in addition to the impending closure of field offices
across the country, and a plan to reduce the agency workforce with mass
layoffs, could result in massive delays to services, advocates say.
Nancy LeaMond of the AARP said eliminating phone verification “will
result in more headaches and longer wait times to resolve routine
customer service needs."
Leamond, the AARP's chief advocacy and engagement officer, said the
announcement “not only comes as a total surprise but is on an
impractical fast-track.”
“SSA needs to be transparent about its service changes and seek input
from the older Americans who will be affected. Because any delay in
Social Security caused by this change can mean real economic hardship,”
LeaMond said.
Agency leaders said Tuesday that the agency would begin training
frontline employees and management about the new policy for the next two
weeks.
Pushback from Democrats came quickly. A group of 62 House Democrats
wrote Wednesday to the agency's acting commissioner, Leland Dudek, to
express concern about how the changes could hurt older beneficiaries in
remote areas and people with limited internet access.
“Requiring beneficiaries to seek assistance exclusively online, through
artificial intelligence, or in person at SSA field offices would create
additional barriers, particularly for those who live far from an
office,” they wrote. “We strongly urge you to consider the individuals
who may be harmed."
One Social Security recipient, 80-year-old Sandi Bachom of New York,
said she was terrified by the change.
“What would happen if I didn’t get that check?" she said. "I don’t have
any family. Everybody’s dead. There’s no one to take care of me.”
Bachom, a retired documentary filmmaker, credits Social Security with
“saving my life” after losing a six-figure advertising job and falling
on hard times.
Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman told The AP that the intention
of the change is “stopping vulnerabilities to fraud.”
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Demonstrators gather outside of the Edward A. Garmatz United States
District Courthouse in Baltimore, on Friday, March 14, 2025, before
a hearing regarding the Department of Government Efficiency's access
to Social Security data. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
“We’re looking out for seniors by doing this,” Fields said.
In announcing the changes, Dudek said that the agency sees $100
million in direct deposit fraud every year. However, congressional
testimony from an official with the SSA inspector general in May
2023 said that “from January 2013 through May 2018 fraudsters
redirected $33.5 million in benefits intended for 20,878
beneficiaries" and made unauthorized direct deposit changes through
the agency's website.
The agency distributes roughly $1.6 trillion in old-age and
disability benefits annually.
The end of phone service identification could be dramatic for some
recipients, including families with children who will be required to
visit an SSA office, since children can’t open online accounts
through the “my Social Security" online service.
Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, said "this will
make it far harder for the American people to claim their earned
benefits. It could even cause major delays, and ultimately collapse
the system, by overwhelming the field offices.”
Altman, of the advocacy group, believes the administration's
ultimate goal is to privatize the Social Security system.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he is concerned that “some of our
oldest Kentuckians, who are living on a fixed income, who don’t have
the resources to travel, have to travel hours to get basic questions
answered.”
“Why? Because they don’t want them to do it, and they want to be
able to kick them off. It’s not right," the Democrat said. “These
are people who qualify and the federal government has an obligation
to have enough offices, call-in or other resources to ultimately
process the applications that are out there and answer the questions
that people have.
“My concern is that what Elon Musk is trying to do is break
government, not fix it.”
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has embedded staffers in
various agencies to look for ways to shrink the federal government.
Musk has pushed debunked theories about Social Security and
described the federal benefit programs as a “ Ponzi scheme ” rife
with fraud.
Bachom, the New Yorker who depends on her monthly Social Security
check arriving at the middle of the month, said people she knows
were alarmed by what they have heard about steps the administration
has taken.
“We’re all freaked out,” she said. “And we shouldn’t have to be
freaked out at this age that somebody is going to rob us.”
——
Sedensky reported from New York. Associated Press reporters Chris
Megerian and Meg Kinnard in Washington and Bruce Schreiner in
Frankfort, Ky., contributed to this report.
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