My husband and I were both born in 1953. I began collecting retirement benefits when I turned 66, and he began collecting spousal benefits. We want to reverse that in 2023 when we both turn 70. After spending lots of time on ssa.gov and on hold with the toll-free number, we went in to our local office. We were told that our only option is a telephone appointment in six weeks. We were also told that we cannot go to a different Social Security office that might be offering in-person appointments. We don’t understand why we can’t make this change online, why we can’t go to any social Security office, and why calling the one phone number (1-800-772-1213) leads to an hour or more of being on hold. Besides expressing our frustration at how difficult what should be simple has become, we want to be sure that we have everything ready for this phone appointment. What do we need to do to prepare?

Hi. In my opinion, all of the problems you've encountered when dealing with Social Security are largely due to a lack of funding provided to Social Security by Congress. Social Security simply doesn't have enough funds to hire adequate staffing, and they can't compete with the salaries paid to computer experts in private industry. That results in longer wait times, and antiquated computer systems.

However, applying by phone generally works out fine. Most likely you'll be able to answer all of the questions asked by the Social Security representative who calls you without any advance preparation. However, if you want to plan ahead, I would suggest reading the information on the following Social Security website: https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-1.html.

Best, Jerry