Thousands of Americans could face delays or stopped checks as officials have made changes to what qualifies as a priority. Recipients who are looking to update their bank or other details may have to wait longer than usual, as officials are currently focusing on the processing of about 900,000 complex cases by hand, per USA Today.
Social Security employees warn of delays. What to know:
Employees told the outlet that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is redirecting its attention, making the resolution of complicated cases the top priority until at least July 1. The priority cases are related to the recently passed Social Security Fairness Act. Meanwhile, recipients trying to update their bank details or resolve Medicare errors could face extended delays.
While SSA generally prioritises new claims and appeals, employees at multiple processing centres were told in late May to focus on Social Security Fairness Act payments first. The act, which was signed into law by Joe Biden earlier this year, is designed to correct payment discrepancies for public servants, who were not fully paid and received lesser benefits earlier.
The agency initially set a November deadline to process over 3.2 million Fairness Act claims. “Using automation, SSA has already expedited over $15.1 billion in long-delayed retroactive payments to more than 2.3 million individuals affected,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston said, per the outlet. However, the agency is now prioritising the remaining 900,000 cases that are too complicated to be processed through automation.
{{/usCountry}}The agency initially set a November deadline to process over 3.2 million Fairness Act claims. “Using automation, SSA has already expedited over $15.1 billion in long-delayed retroactive payments to more than 2.3 million individuals affected,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston said, per the outlet. However, the agency is now prioritising the remaining 900,000 cases that are too complicated to be processed through automation.
{{/usCountry}}Despite the shift in focus, Huston assured that the agency will not fall behind on its other needs. “This project is very important to leadership and it’s critical the agency executes it swiftly, efficiently, and without letting anything else fall through the cracks,” she said. But that does not seem to be the case, as Social Security employees told the outlet that they have been directed to focus on Fairness Act cases first, leading to delays in other cases.
One employee at an East Coast processing centre shared a Teams message from their manager with the outlet, revealing that they have been instructed that “they should only assist if the call is related to a new claim, an appeal or a Social Security Fairness Act case until our workload focus is lifted.” According to the message, the employees would have to abide by the instructions till July 1.