Social Security Administration Reports Improved Call Times and Higher Service Volume

Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano told the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security on Wednesday that the agency is answering 90 percent of calls to its 800 number and has cut average wait times to five minutes.

Bisignano said the reductions represent a 75 percent improvement and that the SSA has served 56 percent more people fiscal year to date, or 13 million additional customers. The testimony came one day after the Social Security board of trustees released its annual trust fund assessment, which projected that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance trust funds will be depleted by 2034 if Congress does not act.

At that point, the trustees said, benefits would be 83 percent payable. The 2034 date for those two funds is unchanged from last year’s estimate. Bisignano, who sits on the board of trustees, said his role is “to make it perform as well as possible” so Congress can decide how to address the program’s finances in 2034.

He told Rep. ” Bisignano also said the SSA is committed to never closing a field office after staffing reductions that eliminated thousands of positions under the Department of Government Efficiency. He maintained that the cuts have not hurt the agency’s ability to assist customers.

The trustees separately reported that the Social Security Retirement Trust Fund will be exhausted by 2032.