Bisignano points to improvements such as faster service, shorter phone waits and digital upgrades. But analysts and former officials say the full picture is more complicated (2).
For the roughly 75 million Americans who rely on their monthly Social Security checks, these details matter. Here’s what consumers really need to know.
Claims versus reality
Phone wait times: Bisignano says calling the SSA’s national 800 number is now much faster. Official reports do show shorter average wait times, with some figures falling into single-digit minutes (3).
But there’s a catch. The agency changed how it calculates those numbers, excluding time spent waiting for callbacks and counting time navigating automated menus rather than reaching a live representative. Many callers still report waiting more than an hour and dealing or getting disconnected altogether. While progress may have been made on paper, real-world experiences can still be frustratingly slow (4).
Disability backlog: The SSA also reports a sharp drop in pending disability claims, from roughly 1.2 million to about 865,000 (5). That sounds like a win, but experts say the decline is partly due to fewer new applications and higher denial rates (6). In other words, the numbers look better, but access and fairness remain concerns.
Website and data security: Bisignano says the SSA website is now online 24/7, ending roughly 29 hours of weekly downtime. Critics note that most of that downtime happened during early morning maintenance windows, when fewer people were online (4).
On data security, Bisignano points to an investigation that showed American’s personal information hasn’t been compromised (7). No breaches have been confirmed. But a former senior Department of Government Efficiency official has filed a whistleblower complaint alleging sensitive data was copied to a cloud server without proper safeguards (8).
Benefit payments: Social Security payments continue without interruption and there have been no mass payment failures. That said, CBS reported that technical glitches in 2025 caused some recipients to receive incorrect messages their benefits had stopped, leading to widespread confusion (9).
What consumers can do
Beyond the headlines, the SSA has undergone major changes. Thousands of staff were laid off in 2025, leaving the agency leaner than it’s been in decades. Field office visits are set to drop by as much as 50% next year, raising concerns about seniors and disabled Americans who may struggle with online-only services (10).
