Social Security Statements: Observations on SSA's Plans for the Social Security Statement

This testimony discusses the Social Security Administration's decision to suspend mailings of the Social Security statement in March 2011 and preparations to take the Statement online. GAO examined (1) the current status of the statement and (2) ways SSA plans to improve the usefulness of the statement. To address these issues, GAO interviewed SSA officials and reviewed agency documents and our prior work on the statement’s understandability. GAO recommended that the Commissioner of SSA ensure access to the statement for all workers, including those without Internet access or English proficiency. In comments, SSA noted that paper statements will continue to be available, on request, in English and Spanish