Advocacy groups for seniors and retirees are calling out new identity-proofing procedures that the Social Security Administration intends to implement on March 31.
The new procedures will require Social Security beneficiaries to verify their identity in person if they cannot use the agency’s online “my Social Security” service.
“Americans deserve to have their Social Security records protected with utmost integrity and vigilance,” said Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration,” in a news release March 19. “For far too long, the agency has used antiquated methods for proving identity.”
Senior citizens looking to claim benefits or needing to change their direct deposit information will need to visit a local office or schedule an in-person appointment if they are unable to use the “my Social Security” website.
Senior advocacy groups blasted the new requirements as cruel to the nation’s elderly population.
“President Trump, Elon Musk, and their hand-picked Social Security Commissioner have lost sight of who Social Security is meant to serve,” said Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired American, in a statement.
“In just two weeks, the SSA will force millions of elderly and disabled Americans to either visit understaffed and closing field offices or navigate an online-only system to access the benefits they earned. They claim this move will reduce fraud – yet they have provided no evidence to support this assertion.”
More than 72.5 million people, including retirees and children, receive retirement and disability benefits through the Social Security Administration.
Occupy Democrats, a Democratic group on social media, attacked the change in a social media post, saying it will “cripple the SSA by making it unusable for a vast swathes of the population.”
“It’s, of course, no secret that many seniors are Internet-illiterate, having not been raised with computers in their homes. Similarly, many of them are incapable of driving at this point in their lives and have no means of coming in for in-person visit,” the group said on X.
SSA defended the measure as a way to strengthen its identity-proofing procedures for both benefit claims and direct deposit changes, ensuring that “it pays the right person the right amount at the right time.”
“Our members are outraged, and we are calling on Congress to act immediately to rein in Musk and protect Social Security for the millions of Americans who rely on it,” Fiesta said.
