Larson, Reed, Davis, Walorski Demand Transparency from SSA on Customer Service Policies During COVID-19 Pandemic

Press Release

The Social Security Administration (SSA) must be transparent in its customer service policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, write House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John B. Larson (D-CT), Social Security Subcommittee Ranking Member Tom Reed (R-NY), Worker and Family Support Subcommittee Chairman Danny K. Davis (D-IL), and Worker and Family Support Subcommittee Ranking Member Jackie Walorski (R-IN) to SSA Commissioner Andrew Saul.

"Due to the COVID-19 crisis, SSA has made numerous changes to its policies and services and has instructed its staff on how to implement these changes…. However, with few exceptions, these pandemic-related changes to SSA policies and services have been marked "sensitive' and have not been shared with the public," wrote the Members. SSA has a long practice of releasing to the public the agency's changes to policies and services.

Other key takeaways:

"We are concerned that SSA's failure to publicly share these policy updates made via employee instructions has made it harder for the public to access services and benefits during the pandemic."
"[Those] who assist the public often use SSA's employee instructions to understand and navigate SSA service changes, [which] can help prevent errors … however this type of interaction cannot occur when policy updates are not publicly available…."
"We urge SSA to immediately review all employee instructions on changes to policies and services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to release them in whole or in part, with redactions where necessary."

Source