YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY

By DAVID BROWN

A Social Security beneficiary who calls the program's national 800 number - 1-800-772-1213 - now has attractive service options. He or she can choose to speak to a live service representative or the beneficiary can choose to use Advanced Speech Recognition technology to conduct important Social Security business over the phone.

The speech recognition technology, which debuted this past fall, allows a computer to understand what callers are saying and to conduct an automated "dialogue" with them. Using this technology, callers to Social Security's national 800 number are able to:

 

 

 

• change address/telephone numbers;
• change direct deposit information; 
• request a replacement Medicare card; and
• request a Social Security benefit verification.

At the present time, the new service is only able to handle English-speaking callers, and is not available for Supplemental Security Income record changes.

As always, the standard for Social Security's public service is our commitment to provide speedy and accurate service, and to give the American public choices about how they want to do business with us - in our local offices, over the Internet or by phone. This new technology provides one more way for the public to conduct business with Social Security.

Mr. Brown is District Manager of the Social Security Administration's Downtown New York Office.