This story has been updated to note the new restrictions were implemented Tuesday.
The Social Security Administration announced Tuesday it is eliminating the ability of people to file for claims by phone, forcing Alaskans to file either in person at a field office — which only exist in Juneau, Anchorage and Fairbanks — or online, which could prove particularly problematic for remote areas with limited connectivity.
Both of Alaska’s U.S. senators said Wednesday they oppose the change and will work to keep it from being implemented on its scheduled starting date of March 31.
SSA officials state the change is to mitigate “fraud risks.” The action comes as Elon Musk, who has made false claims about Social Security fraud, has stated his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plans to cut thousands of SSA jobs and close dozens of field offices.
“Knowledge-based authentication is dead,” Acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek told reporters in a conference call, referring to phone verification by employees of callers’ identities, the Washington Post reported. “These changes are not intended to hurt our customers, but to make sure benefits go to the right customer at the right time.”
Dudek said he “made a commitment to the White House and Congress that we will monitor the situation closely, and if (the change) is to the detriment of the citizens we serve, we will take actions” to adjust, according to the Post.
Opposition to the new policy was expressed in an email to the Empire on Wednesday afternoon from a spokesperson from U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska).
“The Senator does support rooting out fraud in Social Security where it exists, which only undermines a system that millions of Americans rely on, but does not support efforts that interrupt or block access to benefits rightfully due to Alaskan beneficiaries,” the email states. “He and his team will be reaching out to the Acting Commissioner before March 31 to impress upon him the importance of phone-based and virtual appointments in a state with hundreds of communities not connected by roads — most of which are hundreds of miles from the nearest field office.”
Alaska’s other Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski, also expressed opposition in a video statement during a visit Wednesday to Sitka.
“It’s going to be over $400 round-trip for a 26-minute flight to get from Sitka to Juneau to file a claim for Social Security,” she said.
Furthermore, she noted Sitka recently suffered a multiday internet outage due to maintenance issues, eliminating online access as an option. Similar outages occurred elsewhere throughout Southeast Alaska late last month due to an unrelated problem involving a damaged subsea cable. Even so, “Sitka is one of the lucky ones in terms of being able to have good internet access most of the time.”
“So many of our communities around the state are not connected by road,” Murkowski said. “Travel is possible by way of air, but it is not cheap and it is complicated. And again, access to good, reliable broadband is complicated. We cannot deny individuals the opportunities to make timely claims to file for their Social Security. This is an issue that your delegation is going to be all over. It means too much to us here in Alaska to have access for our Social Security beneficiaries.”
A map of Alaska shows the three Social Security Administration field offices in Juneau, Anchorage and Fairbanks. (Google Maps)
A March 13 memo proposing the change by Acting Deputy SSA Commissioner Doris Diaz states the intent is to mitigate “fraud risks.” The action comes as Elon Musk, who has made false claims about Social Security fraud, has stated his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plans to cut thousands of SSA jobs and close dozens of field offices.
People applying for benefits would be required to authenticate their identity through online “ID proofing” rather than by phone, according to Diaz.
“For instances where a customer is unable to utilize the internet ID proofing, customers will be required to visit a field office to provide in-person identifying documentation,” she wrote.
About 60,000 Alaskans don’t have access to broadband, geographically representing a “majority of small communities” in the state, according to the Alaska Broadband Office at the State Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. Most such communities aren’t connected by road to Anchorage, Fairbanks or Juneau — and residents in some other towns that are would be several hundred miles away from those offices.
Diaz acknowledges several risks and challenges in the proposal, including “disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations, risking legal challenges and congressional scrutiny.” Other concerns include service disruption due to increased customer traffic and delayed processing, operational strain due to higher demands on staff, and increased costs for identity proofing services.
The intended benefits, she wrote, are “reduced fraud risk, fewer improper payments.”
The memo’s existence was first reported Monday by the newsletter Popular Information.
”About 40% of all claims are currently processed over the phone,” the newsletter notes. “Because the SSA serves a large population that is either older or physically disabled, many cannot access the internet. Under the new system, this would force these populations to visit an office to have their claim processed.”
Numerous critics told news organizations the proposal to eliminate phone service, which had also surfaced in a different form before the memo was issued, appears to be a deliberate attempt by the Trump administration to drive Social Security enrollment down by making it exceedingly difficult for many eligible people to apply.
“They’re trying to use red tape to literally block people from getting benefits,” Jen Burdick, a lawyer who provides free legal services for Americans trying to get Social Security disability benefits, told the news website Axios.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a email Monday to Axios, stated “any American receiving Social Security benefits will continue to receive them.”
“The sole mission of DOGE is to identify waste, fraud, and abuse only,” she wrote.
Musk has declared Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time,” and suggested tens of millions of dead Americans up to three centuries old as well as vast numbers of illegal immigrants are receiving benefits. A 2024 report by the Officer of the Inspector General found less than 1% of payments between fiscal 2015 and 2022 were improper, most involving overpayments to living people.
Dudek in February said reports of people older than 100 who may be receiving Social Security “are people in our records with a Social Security number who do not have a date of death associated with their record. These individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits.”
The Washington Post reported March 12 that SSA was considering ending phone service, but the agency announced hours after the article was published it was scrapping the plan. The agency release a statement declaring the only change to phone service was individuals would no longer be allowed to change bank information by that method to reduce the risk of fraud.
Diaz’s memo reviving the broader proposal in an altered fashion was published the next day.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
