“Our aggressive implementation inconvenienced or restricted access to some of our account holders,” said agency spokesman, Mark Hinkle. “We are listening to the public’s concerns and are responding by temporarily rolling back this mandate.”
People who receive SSA benefits are able to log on to mySocialSecurity to manage their benefits, or make changes (i.e. selecting a bank account for automatic deposit), according to the article. Under the now rescinded plan, in order to log in online a text message security code would be sent to the beneficiaries' cell phones. An extra level of security, probably for the prevention of fraud or unauthorized access. While this is the 21st Century, and most Americans have cell phones, many older adults still use “landlines”—which cannot receive text messages.
Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, chairwoman of the Senate’s Special Committee on Aging, and Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, the ranking minority member, wrote to the SSA about the new policy, the article reports. They expressed that methods for stronger fraud protection “must be considered relative to the needs and circumstances of the target population.”
“The new policy puts a high burden on American seniors, many of whom may not own a cellphone.”
Stephanie Merritt Driscoll is an attorney in Southern California who focuses her practice as a Social Security Disability advocate.
I really appreciate you for the article. In case if you think that there is no need for you to hire some business marketing consultants because you only got a small business, then you could think twice for such decision. A simple text from a landline can also be used as a marketing strategy.
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