Social Security touts improvements in annual report to Congress

Published 8:47 am Wednesday, July 29, 2026

BALTIMORE — The Social Security Administration on Monday delivered its 2026 annual report on the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program to the president and Congress, highlighting a series of changes the agency says have reduced improper payments and sped up service for recipients.

The report credits Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano, who has led the agency since May 2025, with a renewed focus on SSI, a program that has provided financial assistance to low-income aged, blind, and disabled Americans for more than 50 years. The program serves more than seven million people and is funded through general tax revenues rather than the Social Security trust funds.

According to the agency, the improvements include streamlined SSI policy instructions intended to increase transparency, new technology and call segmentation aimed at improving customer service, and expanded use of the Access to Financial Institution tool, which allows the agency to catch improper payments before they grow into large overpayments.

The agency also said it has fully implemented the Payroll Information Exchange, a system meant to prevent improper payments through more timely wage reporting while reducing the paperwork burden on recipients. Additionally, the agency has strengthened its SSI non-medical redetermination process, in which officials conduct scheduled interviews to verify all non-medical factors affecting a recipient’s ongoing eligibility.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are protecting and strengthening Social Security for all Americans, including the nation’s most vulnerable,” Bisignano said. “As part of this commitment, I renewed SSA’s focus on SSI over the last year.”

Bisignano said he named a lead executive and established an SSI Improvement office, the first such office in the agency’s history, to overhaul how the agency serves SSI recipients.

“We have made the program better for the people who rely on it and the SSA employees who support them,” he said.

The report comes amid a broader push by the agency to highlight operational changes under Bisignano, a former Fiserv executive who was confirmed by the Senate last year. The agency has separately reported cutting its disability claims backlog and reducing wait times on its national phone line over the past year, though the agency continues to face longer-term financial pressures; Social Security’s trust funds are projected to face insolvency within the next decade absent congressional action.