Posted on 03/08/2025 4:21:14 AM PST by Libloather
The Social Security Administration (SSA) said it is reinstating a plan to recover 100% of overpayments to beneficiaries, a policy the agency had abandoned last year after an outcry over cases in which the practice led some Americans to receive shock bills amounting to thousands of dollars.
In a statement, SSA said late Friday that it will increase the default overpayment withholding rate for Social Security recipients to 100% of a person's monthly benefit, the same level that it had in place before last year's reform. The agency is required by law to claw back overpaid benefits.
Because of public backlash over the 100% recovery policy, the agency last year had capped the withholding rate for someone who had been overpaid at 10% of the person's monthly benefit. On Friday, the SSA said it will start claiming 100% of benefit checks to cover new cases of overpayments, while the withholding rate for people with overpayments before March 27 will remain at 10%, as will the rate for overpayments for Supplemental Security Income, a program for low-income seniors and disabled Americans.
"People who are overpaid after March 27 will automatically be placed in full recovery at a rate of 100% of the Social Security payment," the agency said.
The 100% clawback policy had sparked an outcry after instances in which beneficiaries were hit with surprise bills that demanded repayment within 30 days. In some cases, the bills were for tens of thousands of dollars. If beneficiaries were unable to immediately pay the bill, the agency could dock their entire monthly Social Security payment, leaving some people financially destitute, as reported by "60 Minutes," KFF Health News and other media outlets,
In many cases, the overpayments were the fault of SSA. A 2022 report by the agency's inspector general found...
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Problem we always have is that we allow them to put the blame on us because we still have a problem with getting messaging out to correct the media.
Most people don’t know about how the RATs lied about the insulin prices.
Trump lowered it during his first term. Biden came in and immediately raised the price so he could blame it on Trump. then later on lowered it so he could claim he is the guy who lowered insulin prices.
The amount of the SS payment is dependent on the total amount you have paid in for your entire lifetime (up to a certain amount). Someone who has only paid in a small amount wouldn’t receive much back each month unless there were other significant circumstances.
This bothers me. These are overpayments. Shouldn’t be spent by the recipients, unless the recipient is intentionally trying to get away with keeping the extra money. So any “hardship” proves they tried to defraud us.
Yes. The fraudsters are stealing.
When my mom passed, my brother and I notified the zSSA. IMMEDIATELY.
I’m pretty sure there is a minimum amount, and the calculation is based on earnings for the last 10 years.
Yes, you can get Social Security if you have worked for 10 years. You need at least 10 years of work credits to qualify for Social Security benefits.
That is from SS site
Your post is valid—but think about what this means.
In 2025 Social Security is unable to verify its database against death certificates.
That is mind boggling.
The average hacker could probably do that for the whole country in ten minutes.
Fraudsters do not notify the SS. They just operate the checking account for their own benefit. SS will never know the difference.
By law, the funeral homes are required to notify Social Security. Whether they all do or not I am not certain.
I got one for a little over a thousand. I think it was from checks sent after my father died when I was 18. At the time I just cashed the checks and didn’t really care about where they came from. Oh well.
This includes (but is not limited to) dead people fraud.
Yep, the AGI of two years before you start getting Medicare are used to figure the premium. So if you do something like sell your house at 63 it could kick you into a higher premium bracket. Alternatively, if you delay getting on Medicare there could be a 10% permanent increase in premium for each year (up to 50%) you hold off on joining. Lots of rules that a lot of "financial planners" don't take into account.
That AGI kick on Medicare premiums can be triggered at any time if something bumps up your AGI for the year. It will roll back off the next year if your AGI reverts to its normal level below the threshhold.
But it’s a good reminder that Social Security and Medicare are camouflaged old age welfare programs, and we receive what the politicians choose to give us. They are not things in which we have any ownership rights.
SS is supposed to be notified of deaths. I understand that this is done by the funeral directors, so the scenario you give should not happen. I’m thinking that what does happen is that SS numbers are stolen or bought by crooks, then used to feloniously collect benefits. How legitimate recipients are overpaid, now subject to clawing back, I do not understand.
Sometimes, grandpa is buried in the backyard and the death is not reported anywhere to anyone.
and no one has been arrested yet in any of it...
Is that what they're referencing? Fraud? Then why does the article call it "overpayment?"
I interpret that as meaning the SS recipient has been getting more money than they deserve. I interpret it as the Social Security Administration erroneously disbursed payments (in excess of what the recipient was supposed to get) and now the SS recipients have to return the money (that the SSA deemed appropriate in the first place).
If that's the case, I wonder how the recipient can figure out if he/she is getting what they are entitled to?
They “have a plan...”. Yeah, right. Uhh, this will mean nothing if the plan is not immediately kicked back with a demand for timeline and deliverables.
Like: recover 10% in 30 days, 15% in 60 days, etc. Put employees’ jobs on the line for recovery.
Otherwise, give it up. We’ve got just another Biden Admin.
I did’t have an Aunt IRMAA growing up but she clawed back our SS payments over a one-time forced stock sale which was a huge portion of our retirement.
We gave God 10%, Taxes 28% and Aunt IRMAA is taking from us all year!!
Still blessed!
And, if the latter, how does the SS recipient find out if he/she is getting only what he/she is entitled to?
I know what “clawing back” means. What is “circle back” in this context?
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