I have had so many difficulties with SSA. The hoops they make me jump through for my son are unbelievable. They also cancel appointments frequently, usually without notifying me. They withhold funds from my son when he’s hospitalized, even though they shouldn’t since he has to pay rent (and yes, I give them all the documentation they required). It gets straightened out after a few months, but cash flow is an issue. Then they OVERPAID him in October and just figured it out, so they’re deducting a good amount from his check each month.
My favorite snafu is this. My son lives in one county. I live in another and am his guardian. I have literally been sent from one office to the other and back to the first - they can’t decide which county has jurisdiction. Ugh.
Ah, sounds like the are using X for making announcements (ie instead of press releases), not corresponding with individuals. I suppose the press will subscribe, pass on updates.
Wouldn’t X just be added to the press release pool? I mean, were they just making releases through one agency up till now or did they just release information on their web and whoever picked it up picked it up?
They sent me an email a few weeks ago about the ‘in person’ changes. Since then I’ve seen stories reported and re-reported a few times. I thought that was how it worked.
I don’t follow X so there might be a dozen more announcements that have been released on X that I don’t know about. I doubt it.
We had to call to make an appt (fortunately we were able to find local toll-free #). They had to have H present his ID (DLicense with gold star, plus for good measure we brought our passports).
Since D has recently been granted benefits from SS, we brought her certified birth cert plus her SS card.
Once they finished talking about H’s case (where he’s approved as a spouse), we got them to talk about D’s.
She looked up D’s case and xeroxed the birth certificate and SS card for her we had brought and said the only hold up was the agent had to ask D s few Qs. I said she was standing by and called D and told her agent Xxxx yyyy would be calling in 10-15 minutes to help determine if she could handle her own funds or needed a rep appointed.
The agent did call and D satisfied her that she’s fiscally capable and will be getting her funds in the near future.
My father is so disabled he cannot travel anywhere. So he’s just supposed to be SOL if they decide to “require some things in person”? There are many people in the same boat as my Dad. This is ridiculous.
What did he (or others like him who can’t travel) do before? Being able to do everything by computer or over the phone was only since Covid, and being unable to go to an office is not new. What did they do before?
I think they had appointment by phone an perhaps had the applicants send in documents to a specific agent and then deal with it by phone, or had a rep go to the SSA office (spouse, parent, child). My child had SS benefits when she was born and I went to the office on her behalf with documentation. Same when my second child needed a SS card as she had a green card and the SS card isn’t automatically issued as it would be for a child born in the US.
This is definitely time for the community senior services organizations to reach out and kick it up a notch. I do think more and more folks will be needed assistance.
It’s a hardship to get medical transport just to bring the disabled or elderly person in to have them present ID or do who knows what. It’s really unfair and medical transports are very expensive, as are caregiver companions!
I think people in general (not on this thread, clearly) don’t like to think about the disabled.
When my dad was in a wheel chair (advanced dementia, so it wasn’t a temporary chair for an injury) I finally persuaded my mom to let me get her a handicapped placard. It was very difficult to park, unload the wheel chair, unstrap and unload my dad, etc. when I had to do a doctors visit or whatnot… and I figured the placard would make it a skootch less painful.
So I gathered all the documentation, ID, everything I needed, and hauled dad and wheelchair to the DMV as directed. And we waited. And waited.
Finally our turn. The DMV employee said “we need a photograph, go have him stand over there in front of the white screen.” So I pushed the wheelchair over. She said “No, he needs to stand” I said “we are applying for a handicapped placard because he is PERMANENTLY in a wheelchair and cannot stand”. She said “It’s not me being difficult-- the camera can’t focus on someone sitting.” I said “Move the camera” and she called me over- and the camera was- indeed-- mounted on to a desktop computer which was pretty much affixed to this massive desk/filing cabinet combo and it could not be moved more than an inch or so in any direction. I said “Can you please call your supervisor? I am here with a disabled person- who clearly qualifies for a handicapped placard-- and you are asking me to stand him up when medically he cannot stand”.
Supervisor comes, finds a spare camera which is not attached to a computer, hooks it up with a cable, takes the photo (wheelchair and all) and after what was probably three hours sitting in the DMV- I have the placard.
I don’t think they’re cruel. I think they set out a policy which works for 90% of the population. And clearly- the placard needs to belong to the disabled person, not the able-bodied family member who may borrow the car or who owns the car. It’s not a get out of jail free card- it’s for using with a particular human with mobility issues.
But how insane is it making a disabled person stand up for a photo in order to get something which makes life as a disabled person marginally easier???
So I think Social Security is similar. If you are a cognitively healthy person with transportation (either your own or public or a friend with a car) then even if it’s inconvenient, you can get to an office when needed. If you aren’t-- whoa.
Well, gee, “before” he wasn’t disabled. Now he is. Does that satisfy you?
Good grief. The disregard for disabled people in this country just boggles the mind.
I was trying to get benefits for my Dad from the VA for which he qualified due to exposure to Agent Orange. I couldn’t believe the hoops they made us go through for this. Finally, they mailed him a letter stating that he needed to come to the VA in person to finalize his claim. I called them and explained he couldn’t come in person and why. The lady insisted he come in person. I said “What if he were in a coma? You still want him to come in person?” She answered “yes, you would need to bring him in person.”
So much for “Thank you for your service.” So much for concern for our vets from our elected leaders. No, they don’t give a flying flip. It’s all lip service, but the reality is completely different. My Dad, as I’m sure they hoped, got so mad he just told me to drop it. He said "they’re just waiting for all of us to die so they don’t have to take care of us.’
I believe she was talking about a general person before there was internet, phone options, etc. not your Dad specifically. But I don’t understand why if they must actually see the person, why they can’t have someone come to your place to verify, and charge a fee high enough to dissuade everyone from using it? Seems like that might work?
FIL gets benefits from agent orange. It took many years with a lawyer involved. The lawyer takes a percentage of whatever he gets, but without him, he would have never gotten anything. I believe he gets $4000/month. And they gave him a hefty 6 figure payment for back pay. Considering he topped out salary wise in the $30K range, this is huge. Of course, by the time he received it, he was too old and disabled to enjoy it.
It would work for people with money, but many seniors who are unable to appear in person don’t have money to spare for proving that they are who they say they are. And many seniors don’t have someone to do that for them. We have to put ourselves in the shoes of others in order to understand what they need.
There should always have been phone options, because there have ALWAYS been people so disabled that they could not physically get to an office. Not every elderly or disabled person has someone who can advocate for them or physically go to an office for them. All this tells me is that there has always been a callous disregard for disabled individuals who are ENTITLED to the benefits they have earned without being subjected to completely inadequate and ridiculous requirements.
When my Dad finally told me to just drop it, I was appealing a VA decision to cap his benefits at $46/month (with documented medical history showing Agent Orange led to his physical demise). We didn’t have a lawyer representing us; honestly, it didn’t occur to me to get one involved.
Oh good lord. I didn’t realize it was so low. There should definitely at least be a phone option for benefits under a certain amount per month. I am sorry.
Wow, what horrendous customer service! I would have been furious.
I have to go to the SSA office fairly often for my son. The ONLY transportation available to him is taxi or Uber. I spent a LOT of time investigating options. I found one service that told me it was like $2/mile or something. Fine. He took a couple of trips and then I got a bill for hundreds of dollars. Turns out there is a huge initial “surcharge” on each trip in addition to the mileage! I called and told them nobody had mentioned that small detail and I wouldn’t pay it. They took the charge off, but of course DS couldn’t use the service in the future.
I worry about what happens if we move or when I’m not able to get to the SSA office. I don’t think his siblings will live in the area. I guess that’s what case managers are for, but we haven’t had a lot of luck with them - they’re too overworked.
The hoops they make me jump through for my son are unbelievable. They also cancel appointments frequently, usually without notifying me. They withhold funds from my son when he’s hospitalized, even though they shouldn’t since he has to pay rent (and yes, I give them all the documentation they required). It gets straightened out after a few months, but cash flow is an issue. Then they OVERPAID him in October and just figured it out, so they’re deducting a good amount from his check each month.