GAO: SSA Needs to Hone Benefits Statements

The Social Security Administration needs to sharpen the understandability factor of the benefit statements delivered to some 140 million workers, according to a survey conducted by the Government Accountability Office. The comptroller general conducted a review to examine how well recipients of SSA statements understand their content, and how the SSA is evaluating the understandability of the benefits statements. Many participating in the survey recalled receiving a statement, but had little recollection of its components, which they judged less well presented than some comparison statements that they reviewed. The GAO recommended that the SSA develop a plan for regular evaluation of the benefit statements, and that it should use the resulting information to determine whether changes need to made in format or content.