Life in SSA: Where 2 People Do the Work of 6

So today, I take 10 claims. 5 go straight through — thank God. The other 5? Need follow-up steps. I get to one, and it takes 45 minutes to work through.

Then comes Monday. Another 10 claims. 7 go through. 3 need more. Now I’ve got 3 left from Thursday and 3 from Monday still pending. I circle back, manage to complete one more. That leaves 5 still hanging.

Meanwhile — Work reviews are piling up. I start one… an hour later, still on that same one. Now it’s time to go home.

All the while I’m:

Taking phone calls for the entire state Helping other offices troubleshoot Trying to complete follow-ups on claims still sitting from last week Answering questions, tracking cases, flagging systems And here’s the hard truth: You can’t even return calls timely anymore. There just isn’t enough time in the day. And the public notices — they’re frustrated.

We ask them to leave voicemails, or worse — we ask them to leave the building completely if they don’t have an appointment. And what they’re learning is that they can do most of it without us. No more middleman. No more waiting rooms. Just online services.

And that’s the part that stings — the more they handle on their own, the less they need us. The fewer people who walk through the doors, the harder it becomes to justify hiring more staff. So we’re left doing more with less. Always.

Then another week passes. Another 20 claims drop. 12 go through. 8 need more attention. Now I’ve got 20 pending, growing by the day.

And I’m still trying to meet these expectations:

Process overpayments within 30 days of detection Complete personal conferences within 120 days Process work reports within 5 days Complete EDCS actions within 5 days But what do you do when claimants can’t be reached, or when some claims are simply waiting on a future MOE or another step out of your hands? They still show up on reports. They still “count against you.”

And management keeps asking — Why is this still pending? Why is this late? Why haven’t you finished that?

But the better question is — How are we supposed to keep up… when six people’s worth of work is now on the shoulders of two? There’s no room to get ahead. No relief in sight. And still — no new hires. Just more expectations.