If you’re experiencing nightmare delays accessing your Social Security benefit – you’re not the only one.
Desperate Americans seeking help with their Social Security benefits have faced unprecedented delays and frustration at field offices across the nation as the agency undergoes major cutbacks.
At one Seattle-area office, the line began forming 30 minutes before the doors opened, with dozens of people – many elderly or disabled – waiting anxiously to resolve crucial financial matters, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Mark DeLaurenti, 70, from Bellevue, Washington, found himself trapped in bureaucratic limbo while trying to resolve a simple issue involving an uncashed $2,000 check made out to his late father who died in January 2024.
After spending hours trying to make an appointment online and by phone, DeLaurenti visited his local field office only to be told to come back in ‘3 to 4 hours’ just to schedule an appointment.
‘I’m giving up. They beat me,’ DeLaurenti told the WSJ. ‘It’s so inefficient, it’s unbelievable.’
His experience is like thousands of other Americans across the country’s approximately 1,200 Social Security Administration field offices.
Desperate Americans seeking help with their Social Security benefits have faced unprecedented delays and frustration at field offices across the nation as the agency undergoes major cutbacks
Elon Musk’s DOGE is conducting the clean-up of Social Security Administration databases
Staff shortages, system failures and overwhelming demand have created what workers describe as a crisis situation.
The agency is slashing its workforce from 57,000 employees to about 50,000-its lowest level in decades-even as millions of baby boomer’s retire.
Meanwhile, computer networks have crashed a staggering 10 times in just six weeks, according to union representatives.
‘It’s like a house of cards that’s about to collapse,’ John Pfannenstein, who works at a Seattle-area field office, told the outlet.
‘It’s just been a gradual degradation of service, of staffing, of funding,’ added Pfannenstein, who serves as a regional vice president for the AFGE.
The chaos comes as Social Security has become a central focus of President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk.
Musk has controversially referred to the program as a ‘Ponzi scheme’ while pressing for dramatic reforms.
At one Seattle-area office, the line began forming 30 minutes before the doors opened
Musk defended the changes in a Fox News interview last month, claiming DOGE’s modernization efforts would ultimately benefit Americans
Musk defended the changes in a Fox News interview last month, claiming DOGE’s modernization efforts would ultimately benefit Americans.
‘As a result of the work of DOGE, legitimate recipients of Social Security will receive more money, not less money,’ said Musk.
This comes as it was announced that millions of Americans who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) checks may get a surprise once we reach the summer.
The 7.1 million people that qualify for the payments through disability or financial hardship usually expect their checks by the first of the month.
But the government only sends the payments on the first if it does not fall on a federal holiday or weekend, meaning the short month of June may not have any payments.
In May, SSI recipients will receive two checks, one on May 1 and the next on May 30, because June 1 falls on a weekend.
That means that those that receive SSI payments will not get a check in the calendar month of June.
The quirk is far from uncommon, with SSI beneficiaries previously receiving two checks in March.
Still, the payment schedule is important to note for millions of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck, timing grocery runs for the day when the money hits their accounts.
The quirk in the calendar falls again in August when SSI recipients will receive two checks, one on August 1 and another on August 29.
This means that beneficiaries will again have to wait an extra day after September to receive their checks, before again getting two in October.
