The Cost of Social (in)Security

Many of us depend on Social Security.

We paid for it our whole lives and expect it to provide for us if we are disabled, retire or protect our family if we die prematurely.

This is what is happening to Social Security:

Cost Reductions: The SSA announced plans to cut or avoid spending $800 million in fiscal year 2025. These measures include a hiring freeze, reductions in overtime, and cuts to information technology systems.

Office Closures: The SSA plans to reduce its regional offices from ten to four, closing six offices. This restructuring aims to streamline operations but may impact service accessibility.

Workforce Reduction: The SSA intends to decrease its workforce by approximately 12%, equating to about 7,000 employees, reducing staff from 57,000 to 50,000. This reduction is expected from retirements, voluntary separations, and layoffs.

What will this mean?

Office closures and staff reductions will lead to longer wait times for beneficiaries seeking assistance, delaying the processing of benefits and other services. Reduced phone-based identity verification services will hinder beneficiaries' access to support. Beneficiaries can expect a reduction in the SSA's capacity to deliver essential services effectively.

Our society is aging, and there are more beneficiaries every year than the year before. Experts agree that Social Security needs additional, not fewer, resources—not only to manage benefit payments efficiently but also to improve fraud detection and modernize the program's administration, both of which will save money over time. Increased investments in IT infrastructure and staffing are necessary to ensure accurate record-keeping and adapt to the program's growing complexity.

But the administration of the Social Security system isn't even our biggest concern—the Trust fund, currently operating with a budget shortfall, is expected to be depleted in 10 short years, at which time (if nothing is done) benefits will be cut by about 23% for everyone collecting a social security check.

At a time when we need more efficiency and better accountability to save money and make Social Security more efficient, we are getting reduced service and less accountability. To make matters worse, the system itself is on the brink of a catastrophic funding shortfall, and every year, our representatives delay addressing this shortfall, making it geometrically more expensive (and difficult) to fix.