Starting in early April, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will add more in-person appointments and offer in-person service for people without an appointment. During the pandemic, millions of people used my SSA, a secure and convenient online service portal, and received help by phone and in offices by appointment. SSA recommends that people continue to first try to access services...

When Frances Perkins was nominated by President Roosevelt (FDR) in 1933 to be the Secretary of Labor, she presented him with a list of programs for which she intended to fight: the 40-hour week, minimum wage, workers compensation, unemployment insurance, Social Security, a federal ban on child labor, and health insurance. “Nothing like this has ever been done in the...

Our dedicated Government Affairs team has been hard at work advocating for the Work Without Worry Act (H.R. 4003 & S. 2108).  This bipartisan, bicameral legislation would ensure that all disabled adult children (DAC) would be able to explore their ability to work without risking their future DAC benefits. For context, an adult who lives with a severe disability that...

This Presidents' Day, we honor the nuance and complexity within our history and leaders. While many people know that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) spearheaded and oversaw the passage of the Social Security Act of 1935, fewer realize that the concept was brought to America by his cousin, President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, in the early 1900s. National Progressive Convention...

On a recent weekday morning, Will Smith had walked to the small Social Security Administration field office on Fifth Avenue in downtown McKeesport to get his Social Security card. He was met with a locked door and a sign telling him to use the agency’s website or to call a hotline. “We will resume in-person service at this office when...

As February is Black History Month, we’re taking some time to reflect on the black community’s unique intersections with Social Security and how history can inform future equity. One clear and simple truth that arises upon reflection is that raising the full Social Security retirement age would disproportionately hurt people of color and erase the equality the programs have historically...

SSA spokesman Hinkle said other efforts also are underway to improve access in the field. The staff has almost tripled the number of 15-minute in-office appointments it provides for “dire need” circumstances. The agency said it continues to modify procedures to eliminate red tape, by allowing applicants to use some secondary evidence and more online forms, and to attest in...

March 30 would be more than two years after the original shutdown, not to mention much later than public schools and many other basic government services resumed operations following their initial shutdowns. Republicans have called for an immediate reopening and criticized the Social Security Administration’s limited in-person services, which require appointments that aren’t easy to arrange. “This is a challenge...

We are heading towards a dismal threshold; at the state agencies the Social Security Administration (SSA) contracts with for initial-level medical determinations and the first level of appeals (called reconsideration), there will soon be over a million cases awaiting decisions. At the end of December 2021, there were 971,426 pending cases: 776,660 initial claims and 194,766 reconsiderations, according to SSA...

There have been a number of recent developments that indicate Social Security disability claimants will have better access to offices and hearings in the near future. As we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, these developments are positive steps towards addressing the significant barriers to services people with disabilities encounter. The Social Security Administration (SSA) issued a press...