Disability advocates concerned about coming Social Security Administration changes

Groups advocating for people with disabilities worry Social Security Administration changes will make it harder to access benefits.

President Donald Trump has promised not to cut Social Security benefits but has talked about making the program more efficient and, during his campaign, touted the idea of eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits.

“Social Security will not be touched, it will only be strengthened,” Trump said in a February news conference.

In February, more than 55,000 New Mexicans got Social Security income. The majority of those recipients, over 47,000 of them, are eligible for benefits because they are blind or disabled. More broadly, 468,000 New Mexicans received Social Security benefits in 2023.

In March, the agency announced changes in identity proofing requirements and plans to cut operating costs by 40% through closing some offices and encouraging some staff to quit or take early retirement. None of the currently planned office closures are in New Mexico.

“The overall sentiment is that people are really worried,” said Daniel Ekman, director for the Center for Self Advocacy, which helps New Mexicans with developmental disabilities achieve maximum independence and quality of life. “There’s a lot of fear about, with all these cuts and personnel, how is that going to affect my ability to get through to people? Because it was already hard before to get through on a phone or to wait in front of a Social Security office most of the day just to get an appointment.”

The Social Security Administration saw 7,000 of the administration’s 57,000 employees accept voluntary separations or get fired across the country from February through March as part of efforts by Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency to reduce the size of government. The majority of those employees work at community-based field offices.

According to a map from the Social Security Administration, one of 10 field offices in New Mexico lost more than 15% of its staff from voluntary separations — the Roswell Field Office, which lost 25% of its staff. Employees could still accept voluntary early retirement until November. The agency also may still cut staff through a reduction in force, but there is no timeline for when that could be implemented.

Staffing reductions worry New Mexico Disabilities Council Director Alice Liu McCoy and Ekman because it was already difficult for people to get the assistance they needed filling out paperwork and dealing with bureaucratic processes.

The Social Security Administration reported its average 2024 time to answer phone calls on its helpline as 28 minutes, a measure that does not include calls people abandoned while waiting. Clients sometimes report much longer waits. Albuquerque resident Gloria Mirabal said she waited close to five hours when she called the agency in December for help with her retirement benefits application.

“I took the phone to the shower with me, to the bathroom, everywhere, because I had been trying for days, and I was just not going to give up on this particular day,” Mirabal said. “I’m glad I hung in there, because it’s probably worse today.”

Gabrielle Dietrich, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of New Mexico, also worries phone wait times will grow longer, which could be a particular burden for people living with serious mental illness.

“If you can get yourself to a place where you’re able to handle that on one day, but then you have to sustain that condition of recovery over many days, while you’re also worrying about losing your housing, while you’re also worried about trying to maintain your household, take care of your family, do all the things that you need to do,” Dietrich said. “It’s a really big ask.”

The agency is making some intentional changes to phone services for the sake of security, set to go into effect April 14.

“Americans deserve to have their Social Security records protected with the utmost integrity and vigilance,” Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of Social Security, said in a statement announcing the changes. “For far too long, the agency has used antiquated methods for proving identity. Social Security can better protect Americans while expediting service.”

It will no longer allow people to update their bank account information over the phone. Instead, they will either need to use two-factor authentication with the “my Social Security” service or visit a Social Security office in person.

Some people applying for benefits for the first time will also be unable to prove their identity on the phone. People applying for retirement, survivors, spouse or child benefits will have to visit an office, but people applying for Medicare, Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income can prove their identity by telephone.

Phone services are important for people with disabilities, according to Ekman and Liu McCoy, because they may have no reliable transit, they may be immunocompromised or have conditions or needs that make it difficult to wait in person for long periods of time.

“Causing a panic about Social Security is going to make it way easier for people to engage in fraudulent behavior,” Liu McCoy said. “Because everyone’s afraid, if they get a phone call where somebody is trying to scam them saying, ‘I’m from the Social Security Administration and I need your information,’ they’re going to give it to them, because they’re afraid of losing their benefits.”