Previously we have discussed how difficult it can be for someone to get in touch with a Social Security representative either by phone or in person due to a lack of the agency’s resources and the amount of people who need assistance, but now a recent audit from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) shows just how large of a problem it really is.
The OIG report detailed wait times for people who visit a Social Security Office. More than 40 million people visited a Social Security office in 2015 and the wait times were not pretty.
According to the OIG’s report, more than 10 percent of these visitors (4.5 million) had to wait longer than an hour before they were assisted by a Social Security employee. This is an increase of 2.3 million people who had to wait longer than an hour for service in 2010 even though the number of people who visited a Social Security office in 2010 was close to 5 million more than in 2015.
Increased waiting is not an isolated problem at a few offices across the country as the OIG reports wait times have increased in all 10 of Social Security’s regions. The average wait time for service in 2010 was 19 minutes and jumped up to 26 minutes in 2015. The only silver lining is that average wait times decreased by two minutes from 2014 when it was 28 minutes. Here is a closer look at the average wait times in each of Social Security’s 10 regions:
- Atlanta – 26 minutes;
- Boston – 23 minutes;
- Chicago – 22 minutes;
- Dallas – 30 minutes;
- Denver – 27 minutes’
- Kansas City – 20 minutes;
- New York – 27 minutes;
- Philadelphia – 24 minutes;
- San Francisco – 30 minutes;
- Seattle – 26 minutes.
For a closer look at the OIG’s report on wait times click here.
