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According to a recent announcement by the Social Security Administration, beginning in February, field offices will no longer provide certain services. These services are said to include providing benefit verification letters to recipients. These letters are important because they provide vital information to Social Security recipients, including the benefit amount and type, Medicare start date, and date of birth.
As an explanation of its decision to cut these services, the Social Security Administration points to reduced resources and hours. In 2013, the Administration announced that it would be reducing hours in field offices in order to manage workloads. Between December of 2012 and the summer of 2013, the Administration was forced to drop more 1,400 employees.
The Administration hopes to reduce costs and preserve these precious resources by limiting the services provided in the field offices. The offices will also stop offering printouts of Social Security numbers. Instead, individuals must complete an application to receive a replacement.
Social Security Disability Insurance is crucial to the financial well-being of countless recipients. The federally mandated disability insurance program provides monthly income to people who are not yet of full retirement age, but who can no longer work as a result of a severe disability. The disability must be expected to either last 12 months or longer, or it must be terminal. In order to be eligible, recipients must have paid into the system for a certain number of years through their taxes.
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