Disability, General, Retirement, SSI, Survivors

Social Security’s Equity Action Plan

April 14, 2022 • By

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Last Updated: April 14, 2022

Social Security Administration LogoOn January 20, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order (EO) 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. The EO requires all Federal agencies “to pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all including people of color and other people who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality.”

Our programs touch the lives of nearly every American including people who face barriers – providing income security for the diverse populations we serve. This includes:

  • People with disabilities.
  • People who are widowed.
  • Retirees.
  • Their families.

We are committed to continuing to administer our programs in a way that promotes equity and treating all individuals who interact with us with fairness. We recognize that access to our administrative system can pose barriers to people who need our programs the most. To reduce these barriers and ensure everyone has access to our services, our Equity Action Plan includes:

  • Increasing collection of race and ethnicity data to help understand whether our programs are equitably serving our applicants and beneficiaries.
  • Revising our policies and practices to expand options for service delivery.
  • Ensuring equitable access for unrepresented claimants in the disability application process.
  • Decreasing burdens for people who identify as gender diverse or transgender in the Social Security Number card application process.
  • Increasing access to our research grant programs for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions, and to procurement opportunities for small and disadvantaged businesses.

Please visit Social Security Open Government Plans and Progress to learn more about each of the actions outlined in our Equity Action Plan. We look forward to advancing equity, civil rights, racial justice, and equal opportunity for all. Please share this information with your friends and family – and post it on social media.

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  1. Nabil A.

    I didn’t get my third impact payment,please help me to get my as soon as possible.
    Thank you very much

    • Ann C.

      Hi, Nabil. Thank you for visiting our blog. Please visit the IRS website for all your Economic Income Payment-related questions. If you are unable to find the answer, call the IRS hotline at 1-800-919-9835. Thanks!

      • Janis H.

        If you are white you are FUCKED.

  2. Tony

    It is sad that the federal government admits to not serving communities of color and other minorities equally.

    They need to serve Americans instead of wasting our resources on illegal immigrants.

    The US government lets them into our country and when they are denied their asylum, the federal government has to spend even more to locate the illegal immigrants to deport them out of the US.

    There aren’t any jobs for most of these people. They are going to resort to stealing or murder to survive. It would be easy to kill someone, burying them, and steal their identity. If they have no family members, then their disappearance would never be report. Even if the family member report them as missing, the Social Security Administration would probably never report to local law enforcement that someone was using their social security number to work. Illegal immigrants are using our social security numbers to work and the Social Security Administration isn’t even monitoring their illegal activities.

    • Brandon

      WHITE, DISABLED AND POOR.WITH THIS CURRENT INFLATION, IT IS DIFFICULT TO MAKE ENDS MEET.$800.00 PER MONTH MAY HAVE WORKED TWO YEARS AGO,BUT NOT SINCE COVID.WE NEED AN IMMEDIATE INCREASE IN OUR CASH BENEFITS!AND MAKE SURE ANY NEW POLICIES DON’T INADVERTENTLY DISCRIMINATE AGAINST OTHER,IN OTHER WORDS, WHAT YOU OFFER ONE RACIAL OR ETHNIC GROUP,EXTEND THE OFFER “TO EVERYONE”THAT NEEDS HELP
      DONT PICK AND CHOOSE WHAT GROUPS OR GROUP YOU ARE GOING TO SERVE.BY OBSERVATION,SOME OF THE MODIFICATIONS MAYBE POLITICALLY MOTIVATED

      • Tony

        The SSA let’s you decide your race and gender without any proof. Universities also lets you decide your race without proof.

        If I claim to be Native American like Elizabeth Warren, then can I stop paying federal taxes.

      • Mary

        you wont recieve anything from democrats that will help in the future. Democrats are known for giving only to their special interest groups for votes and will give with one hand while taking away with the other. I.E. $15.00 pay raise with a 9.5% inflation rate. higher cost wipes out any gains.

        • Tony

          The retired and disabled people in the states who voted to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15/hr are fools. They shot themselves in the foot.

          The average retiree and disabled persons’ social security monthly benefits are $1600/month.

          $15 minimum wage is $2500/month.

          People can’t even survive on minimum wage, so how are retirees and disabled persons going to survive on even less.

      • Susanna E.

        So true, Brandon. It should be equal to everyone. Not picking out any race.
        Go to work get ssi. No race or ethnicity deserves more than another… u work all ur life u get what u worked for. The pity party should be over with now. The past is over. Deal with it

  3. Carolyn F.

    I have been reading about a stimulus for social security recipients in April 2022. I can’t find any information about it. It this fake information

    • Mary

      Wake up to the fact that the government is broke, we have spent over 10billion in Ukraine, millions for the lincoln art center and more than a trillion on the special interest groups of democrats that do nothing for the people. It is to keep them in power by removing state control of their elections and giving it to one person in Washington, just like all other dictators.

  4. Gail

    🤦‍♀️🐂💩🥴

  5. Wanda E.

    If the bureaucrats and politicians would keep their hands out of the SS money, we wouldn’t have a problem. I am fed up with people who never paid a dime into it , getting full benefits. Time to get an attorney You people can’t be trusted

    • Fedup2

      Correct!

    • Duane R.

      Can some one point me to the legitmate information that says illegal folks can access benefits – or are you just repeating what some politician or on-line personality is telling us. There are specific steps necessary to take before SS benefits are awarded. Having a fraudulent SS card does not guarantee benefits. In fact, someone using a fake SS card is having wages deducted for Social Security but will not actually be able to collect.

      • Pat B.

        You can read about how non-citizens have been granted specialized eligibility for SS benefits on the SSA’s website here:
        https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-eligibility-ussi.htm
        AND
        https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/spotlights/spot-non-citizens.htm

        This includes a whole variety of illegal immigrants who have been redubbed “Qualified Aliens” in order to grant them benefits as “refugees”. The word game is intentional and disguises the fact that most of these illegal immigrants are seeking the economic prosperity that only the U.S. can bring by telling the U.S. immigration authorities that they are politically-oppressed or have been subject to human-trafficking.
        The bottom line is our Social Security lifeboat cannot continue to take on new recipients who have paid nothing into the system lest we sink it for everyone.

        • bill r.

          If you read it carefully, this is SSI, not social security you get when you retire between age 62 and 70. also look at the requirements, they had to have 40 quarters of working with a real SS number.

  6. Giselle

    I’m a single female who was disabled before I turned 65. Because I was made eligible for SS before 65 I will forever be at the lowest possible rate of social security retirement.

    People who are wealthy can afford to wait until they are 70 or 75 to draw, which gets them a much higher rate. That isn’t right.

    • Fedup2

      Correct!

    • Bill R.

      You do not have to be wealthy; you can be working and do not want to draw your SS early or you may have another retirement pension you are drawing and that does not make you rich. The max age for higher SS payments is age 70.

  7. Kevin M.

    If I have $2,000. or more in my bank I automatically lose my benefits until I pay the difference back ! ( Thats EQUITY ?) I would like to buy a car to get around (public trans does not help much where I live). I would also like to get some employment but without a car I can’t do that ! Why am I penalized for trying to get ahead ? Again where is the so-called EQUITY in that ?

    • Sherrie H.

      I agree. I’m 68 and my “equity” came as a humongous rent increase that took my whole so-called Soc Sec raise. Then, since I’m on food stamps they were cut back $33. My “equity” put me in the hole by nearly $100. Now we have gas prices which adds to more ‘equity’. I didn’t grow up this way!

      • Fedup2

        Right! This equity plan is a way to money launder US Treasury and SSA money by creating guidelines that let ineligible folks/organizations get money and funnel it back, “quid pro quo”.
        But with this administration no one will face impeachment!
        Where are the Federal Marshalls?

  8. Sue S.

    There are too many people taking from this system that only qualify crookedly. They can be illegal, healthy, fake handicaps, etc and they get by with it . Where can we report them? Who is investigating? This system was set up for workers and some others in true need. Im tired of paying for some to just live lazily through life. I’m glad to help a truly disabled, LEGAL citizen of our country.

    • Sharon C.

      I totally agree with you. That bill should say that Social Security funds may NOT be used for any other purpose since it has already been robbed enough.

    • Deb J.

      I agree, I can probably name numerous people who are playing the system. Social Security is also for retired people, disabled people etc. Funds should not be used for anything but that. I also agree that the Government is not monitoring the system ! People are not working yet they want ti be given a check. I could go on and on . Biden needs to stop looking at race for everything and start doing his job. Ever since he has been in office he has been nothing but playing the race card. We’ll see where that’s going to get us in the long run.

    • Nathaniel G.

      Bravo I agree entirely the federal government destroyed social security years ago borrowing from it. Never repaying for the betterment of those who actually worked honestly and contributed financially.

      Sure wish there was mention of exempting retirement for being taxed again after the start of receiving the earned benefits.

      • Jack W.

        Yet retirees keep voting for the politicians who wrote the laws making this possible.

        Old People Unite and Vote Better.

    • Bob Z.

      My wife and I both agree with you! There must be a secure system of checks and balances to prevent fraudulent abuse
      of the Social Security system. There is too much of a capacity for abusing the benefits. I am 70, my wife is 67. We have paid into the Social Security system all of our working lives and too many benefits are being paid out to scammers. Social Security abuse has been going on for years and years and needs to be stopped.

    • Karen

      True. SS benefits for non-contributing spouses are bad enough. But why is there no limit on how many ex-spouses one worker’s SS benefits support?

      Why can people can marry and divorce as many times as they please & as long as they’re married 10 yrs., the ex-spouse can collect SS spousal benefits? One worker’s record could be supporting 5 ex-spouses! No wonder SS is going broke!

  9. Anne C.

    I believe that if social security did a better job of policing those who are scamming the system – they’d have a heck of alot more money available to those who are entitled to and should be receiving benefits. This is the PEOPLE’s money NOT the Government’s money. Totally agree that widows and/or widowers should receive at least a portion of their deceased spouse’s benefits after they’ve paid into it for years. I would assume that the profits they are earning on all our dollars could be more than enough to assist those less fortunate or disabled if the funds weren’t directed to every boondoggle project passed by greedy politicians.

  10. Leah G.

    The Social Security field office in Berkeley, CA., has effectively used the last year and some months, to cause me and millions of others, serious harm and detriment to life. I remember when I was younger there’d be those people who would preach to the public that our government was going to show its true colors someday soon. They said eventually no one would be safe from their harmful acts.
    I should’ve listened to them. Granted I dont think I could’ve kept any of this from happening.
    They cut my payments off in March 2021 by lying and saying I hadn’t submitted documents in a timely fashion. Mintgs later they found them, unwillingly, when I filed and appeal requiring they literally check their inbox and fax machine and desks a little better.
    That didn’t change anything though. They still haven’t given me back my payments. I’ve filed every form of appeal waiver request and plea possible.my hearing requests get denied because of the 5 other denials they fraudulently did in the last year. I’ve never got to the judge I was scheduled to see a month ago. Because some new kind of judge, (alj?) Issued a decision saying I was denied the hearing because of past denials for reconsideration and waivers. I’ve never been acknowledged for the good cause or harm they’ve caused. What this says to me is that it will never matter how disabled you are. Or how hard you work your whole life. In the end, or when it’s one of those most immensely important times in life where you need even this small pittance of funds… you will find yourself cast out. Social Security Administration has learned how to show poor hurt people just what their value to society is. Absolutely nothing.

    • Gwendolyn R.

      I agree I apply for disability in 2011 have he 3 in person hearing and work all my life with severe scoliosis and was denied each. Time now I’m totally dependent on motorized devices in order to get around even in my home. But the judge said I could do the same work I was doing before I retired. If I could I would have never stopped work. I saved SSA 38+ years of paying me disability that they offered me when I was 17 but I wanted to work. The first judge I had twice for my hearing and the third time a different judge but said decision he denied me and I figured he wouldn’t go against the first judge’s decision. Everything I have I earned even my 40+ credits that social security refusing to give me. The judge even said my testimony wasn’t credible.

    • Ann C.

      Hi, Leah. We are sorry to hear about your experience. You can submit feedback by visiting our Contact Social Security page. Once there, select the “Email Us” link. This will take you to the “Email A Question to our Support Team” form where you can complete and submit a compliment, complaint, or suggestion. We hope this helps.

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