Hawaii’s senior senator says he will step in to provide more Social Security Administration access to West Hawaii residents.
Hawaii’s senior senator says he will step in to provide more Social Security Administration access to West Hawaii residents.
Right now, West Hawaii residents who need SSA services in person have two choices:
They can drive to Hilo. Or they can wait until SSA representatives come to Kona, a once-a-month visit that serves roughly 150 people in three to five hours.
The administration currently has no plans to expand West Hawaii services, a spokeswoman responded via email Tuesday morning.
“I was unaware of this situation, and frankly I’m shocked,” Sen. Daniel Inouye said via email late Tuesday, after his Honolulu office was informed about the limited West Hawaii office hours. “This is unacceptable. These facts suggest there is something extremely wrong. I will immediately contact the Social Security Administration to find out what is happening. But I will go beyond that to ensure this situation is properly addressed and resolved.”
Rep. Mazie Hirono said she would also look into the situation.
“We are shocked by this situation,” she said in an email Tuesday evening. “I will be contacting the Social Security Administrator regarding this distressing level of service. We need to do better by our seniors.”
The limitations, spokeswoman Jane Burigsay said, are because of the administration’s limited financial resources.
“Due to the current budget situation, these are the services that we are able to provide at this time,” Burigsay said. “We’re aware of the number of people that are coming to the contact station for services.”
Tom Lawson attended to some Social Security business at last month’s visit at the West Hawaii Civic Center. When he arrived, about half an hour before the satellite office opened, already roughly 80 people were waiting in line. The doors opened at 9 a.m., allowing about 20 people to go inside and sit down to wait.
“I didn’t think that it was a very good system,” Lawson said. “I was completely dismayed about how all this was working.”
Many of the people who need Social Security services are either disabled or elderly. Others, Lawson noted, were there to get new Social Security cards, because of changes in Hawaii’s driver licensing laws. Those new laws don’t allow laminated, extremely worn or damaged Social Security cards to be used as one of the identification proofs.
Lawson complimented the two Social Security employees who ran the contact office.
“They went through (the people waiting for help) in an orderly fashion,” Lawson said. “It was really well run.”
But only offering services in West Hawaii once a month is “completely lopsided,” he added.
He’d like to see services offered at least once a week, he said.
Burigsay said people who cannot make it to a Social Security Administration office should consider using the agency’s toll-free number, 800-772-1213, or the agency’s website, socialsecurity.gov.