800 number

“Because there aren’t enough workers in SSA’s local offices, applicants wait over a month on average for an appointment. Because there aren’t enough people answering the agency’s 800 number, most callers wait over two hours on average for an answer, as of early August,” they write.

In its statement, the SSA reiterated that call wait times have dramatically improved and that “using technology on our national 800 number has enabled 90 percent of calls handled to be served via automated self-service options or convenient callbacks.”

Bisignano has also fixated on how much time it takes to reach an agent on the SSA’s 800 number.

But a call or text to Teen Line, which has its own 800 number, guarantees a response from a peer who likely understands better than most well-meaning adults what it’s like to be a teenager today.

“We worked all last year to turn things around that were all going in the wrong direction,” he said of the efforts he undertook to reduce wait times on the agency’s 800 number and the backlog of disability cases.