During the previous week, Veronica Sanchez was on the phone for six hours with the Social Security Administration to no avail. “Urgent,” she said: “get a medical letter so that my elderly parents don’t lose $2500 worth of monthly care, including life-saving insulin and daily visits from nurses.” Well, with walk-ins now suspended and online systems failing, the chances do look slim.
“This is broken down,” said Sanchez, speaking to millions of elderly and disabled Americans, which are now reduced to being long queues on the lines, complete failed phone calls, and locked assistance because of a controversial overhaul by the government.
DOGE overhaul ships services
The havoc has followed sweeping cuts instituted by the Trump administration through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a task force led by Elon Musk. In February, DOGE slapped a 12% cut on the number of employees, firing 7000, and consolidated 10 regional offices to four. It termed the consolidation “streamlining,” but it has thrown the nation into a service delivery crisis.
“No field offices in California have closed,” officials said. Yet seniors from Los Angeles to Baltimore are waiting hours on jammed phone lines and getting turned away from in-person visits due to appointment-only policies.
Lawsuit: ‘Significant and irreparable harm’
In response, disability advocates formed a coalition to file a federal lawsuit against SSA, Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek, and Musk. The complaint lays that the said administration has “seriously weakened” services, leaving seniors “without the basic benefits that they are legally entitled to.”
Cuts hurt both new applicants and existing beneficiaries, Town added. Maria Town is president of the American Association of People with Disabilities. “You can’t get anyone on the phone,” she said. “This just makes life harder for millions of Americans.”
Lives in jeopardy and ever-increasing desperation
A 55-year-old homeless man, Andrew Taylor waited for a letter at the Social Security office in Los Angeles, which was supposed to help him apply for food stamps. After waiting for hours, he was told it had to be sent by mail. “It’s really ridiculous,” he said, “The poor always seem to get the worst of it.”
Camilla Sosa, 68, who had lost her temper after a similar three-hour wait for a required document, lamented in Spanish: “Oh no, that is so long.” She had decided to leave for the day.
The administration states that “zero customer-facing representatives” have been let go and that more employees are being reassigned to “mission-critical” roles. However, websites riddled with errors and inaccessible QR appointment systems are continuing to hamper access due to new identity checks.
Advocates believe cuts will make efforts counterproductive
“The system is a shambles,” declared L.A. All Seniors Foundation founder Gevorg Adjian. “They told seniors to come in, then eliminated the choice.”
While millions are struggling through service interruption, advocates are claiming that the very target group that Social Security professes to serve—the elderly and disabled Americans—is being thrown under the bus in the name of efficiency.
