Seniors Flood Platform With Questions About Social Security
A surge in online queries about Social Security on an expert platform has highlighted deepening anxiety among older Americans over potential changes to the program under the Trump administration.
The spike in questions follows news of office closures, administrative overhauls, and proposals affecting access to Social Security services.
Why It Matters
Many seniors rely on timely Social Security benefits for basic living expenses. The Trump administration’s cuts, implemented via the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), have triggered widespread concern about the availability of local services.
In 2025, 26 Social Security Administration (SSA) offices across the United States are scheduled to close, according to the Associated Press. This coincides with the SSA’s attempt to halt phone-based identity checks, requiring claimants to verify in person or online.
A woman stands outside a US Social Security Administration building, November 5, 2020, in Burbank, California.
VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images
What To Know
From March 1 to April 8, the expert Q&A platform JustAnswer received 17,981 Social Security-related questions—48 percent of its total 2025 year-to-date volume in just five weeks. The year-over-year increase in such questions for the first quarter was 142 percent.
Users frequently asked: Will these cuts reduce my benefits? How can I challenge a denied claim? What do I do if my application is delayed?
The Social Security Administration (SSA), which provides benefits to approximately 70 million Americans, has recently undergone changes due to DOGE initiatives. These changes include a 12 percent reduction in the SSA workforce, decreasing staff from 57,000 to 50,000 employees.
The SSA emphasized that these cuts have not affected customer-facing representatives and that efforts are being made to reassign employees from non-critical roles to front-line positions to maintain service quality.
The SSA also planned to implement policy changes requiring individuals to appear in person at field offices for certain benefit applications, eliminating the option for telephone-based identity verification.
These measures, which the SSA said it would no longer move forward with last week, raised concerns among beneficiaries, particularly seniors and individuals with disabilities, about potential delays and reduced access to essential services.
While President Donald Trump has stated that there will be no cuts to Social Security benefits, the operational changes and office closures have led to increased anxiety among recipients about the accessibility and reliability of the program.
What People Are Saying
Kevin Thompson, the CEO of 9i Capital and host of the 9innings podcast, told Newsweek: “To be fair, DOGE is only opening up the books into the social security system. They truly have not done anything. They mentioned the fraud, waste and abuse within the system but none of it was actually credible. I would say their mishandling in the production of data likely scared some of the social security beneficiaries and pushed some towards taking benefits earlier than anticipated. The Trump Administration tactical approach of Flooding the Zone is working as expected and causing mass confusion in the social security space.”
Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee, told Newsweek: “It’s easy to understand why there has been a significant uptick in the number of Social Security questions being asked online. With proposals targeting some costs in the administration and announcements of potential cuts to its workforce and services offered, recipients are concerned their benefits could be next on the chopping block.”
“As the new administration finds what to maintain and what to scale back on, they could run into a real backlash if they decide to slash any element of the Social Security program. Not only is it one of the most popular government programs, but it’s also a key source of income for tens of millions of Americans.”
What Happens Next
The SSA has not yet released a full schedule for remaining lease cancellations or updates to the online verification system.
Despite assurances from Trump that benefit levels will remain untouched, the broader restructuring of SSA operations continues to provoke concern.
“The only changes that have come are system based, whether it is updating core operations such as phone systems, or the standardization of the program from technology to processes,” Thompson said. “Benefits have not and likely will not be touched, but the system in itself will be revamped for efficiency and cost reductions.”