I really am here to help you
Apr. 10th, 2012 12:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rscIt's a piece of Conventional Wisdom -- common, as far as I can tell, across the entire political spectrum -- that any interaction with a government agency is likely to be painful, slow, cumbersome; that any humans you actually manage to talk to will be surly, unhelpful, and/or incompetent; and that the whole experience will be generally unsatisfactory.
Well, let me tell you about an experience I had today.
I finally determined, a couple of months ago, that it made sense for me to start receiving Social Security benefits at my SSA-defined "full retirement age", which is 66, which I will reach on this coming May 15. So, last week, I went to the Social Security Administration's web site to start the process of applying for benefits. This turned out to be quite simple and straightforward -- I had to answer a bunch of questions, but none of them seemed irrelevant or unduly intrusive or complicated, and when I (inevitably) overlooked one or two of them, I was alerted to the fact as soon as I tried to go to the next page, and didn't have to reenter any of the correct information, etc. It was also possible (and easy) to interrupt the process at any point, save the partially-completed application, and go back to complete it later.
The one thing I was uncertain about was whether I was eligible to receive the full retirement benefit in May (the month that contains my 66th birthday) or June. The application offered me May as a default, but I thought that might be because it was, in fact, the first month for which I could possibly receive benefits (given that it was already April). The FAQ section didn't answer this question, although something about the description of when one becomes eligible for benefits at all (at 62) suggested to me that because I was born on or after the 15th I would have to wait until June. I noticed that they had a handy mechanism for asking questions, so I sent my question in, and I got a response the next day. Admittedly, this response wasn't helpful -- it consisted of a bunch of excerpts from the information I had already found on the FAQ page, and didn't address my specific question directly.
I thought about calling them up and asking, but I didn't feel like spending lots of time fighting telephone trees and waiting on hold, so I decided to just go with what I thought initially and request benefits starting in June. I completed the application and submitted it at around 2:00 PM yesterday. I got a prompt email acknowledgement confirming what the web site had already told me, namely that my application number was such-and-such and that I could start checking its status online in five business days.
Then came the surprise.
This morning at about 9:20, I got a phone call from an SSA representative asking if I really meant to specify June, explaining that I was entitled to full benefits starting in the month in which I turned 66, i.e., May. I asked quite explicitly whether the fact that I was born on or after the 15th affected this, and she assured me that it didn't, and that I could receive my benefits without reduction starting in May. "So I'll just change that for you, shall I?" Yes, indeed, thank you. "Do you have any other questions?" (I did have one, which she answered satisfactorily.) "Thank you, enjoy the rest of your day."
Yes, that's right: a government employee called me, within less than 24 hours, to advise me that I had not claimed as much as I could, and offered to fix it for me.
So much for Conventional Wisdom.
Well, let me tell you about an experience I had today.
I finally determined, a couple of months ago, that it made sense for me to start receiving Social Security benefits at my SSA-defined "full retirement age", which is 66, which I will reach on this coming May 15. So, last week, I went to the Social Security Administration's web site to start the process of applying for benefits. This turned out to be quite simple and straightforward -- I had to answer a bunch of questions, but none of them seemed irrelevant or unduly intrusive or complicated, and when I (inevitably) overlooked one or two of them, I was alerted to the fact as soon as I tried to go to the next page, and didn't have to reenter any of the correct information, etc. It was also possible (and easy) to interrupt the process at any point, save the partially-completed application, and go back to complete it later.
The one thing I was uncertain about was whether I was eligible to receive the full retirement benefit in May (the month that contains my 66th birthday) or June. The application offered me May as a default, but I thought that might be because it was, in fact, the first month for which I could possibly receive benefits (given that it was already April). The FAQ section didn't answer this question, although something about the description of when one becomes eligible for benefits at all (at 62) suggested to me that because I was born on or after the 15th I would have to wait until June. I noticed that they had a handy mechanism for asking questions, so I sent my question in, and I got a response the next day. Admittedly, this response wasn't helpful -- it consisted of a bunch of excerpts from the information I had already found on the FAQ page, and didn't address my specific question directly.
I thought about calling them up and asking, but I didn't feel like spending lots of time fighting telephone trees and waiting on hold, so I decided to just go with what I thought initially and request benefits starting in June. I completed the application and submitted it at around 2:00 PM yesterday. I got a prompt email acknowledgement confirming what the web site had already told me, namely that my application number was such-and-such and that I could start checking its status online in five business days.
Then came the surprise.
This morning at about 9:20, I got a phone call from an SSA representative asking if I really meant to specify June, explaining that I was entitled to full benefits starting in the month in which I turned 66, i.e., May. I asked quite explicitly whether the fact that I was born on or after the 15th affected this, and she assured me that it didn't, and that I could receive my benefits without reduction starting in May. "So I'll just change that for you, shall I?" Yes, indeed, thank you. "Do you have any other questions?" (I did have one, which she answered satisfactorily.) "Thank you, enjoy the rest of your day."
Yes, that's right: a government employee called me, within less than 24 hours, to advise me that I had not claimed as much as I could, and offered to fix it for me.
So much for Conventional Wisdom.
