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 ...
How does that happen? The Social Security Administration mistakenly gives certain recipients more than they are entitled to receive? And the SSA does that in such numbers/cases/quantities that it becomes a matter of national interest?
How is it that my mother in law might have been overpaid? For example?
First, track down whose living people’s accounts received deposits in the name of dead people. “Claw back” THAT money!!!
Other than that, the avg SS recipient doesn't know what they deserve. Just what the SSA tells them what they will receive.
The clawback is wrong. SS screwed up it’s on them. I’ve got a friend they tried to hit up for overpayment to her mother, who’d been DEAD for 10 years. Do a better job of sending money out, and don’t hassle people for money you shouldn’t have paid to their dead relative.
"Gettin' their obama on!"
From a purely political lens, this is a very dangerous policy to roll out now unless the goal is to get seniors, the disabled, and their close families hating and fearing Trump and give the dems new life.
Malicious compliance.
That’s what it looks like.
Funeral homes are required to notify SSA, and my experience is they do with a quickness.
Circle back was Biden’s press sec’s come back when she didn’t have an answer.
The "usually due to" clause is key. There are also cases of fraud, such as a person receiving moneys under the table, etc.
When wrestling with long term disability and early retirement and young kids with disabled father and young wife benefits etc when my husband was deathly ill in his 50s, I received a random check from SSA for $3000.
Oh how we could have used it. Kids in college kids at home. I had been laid off. Hubs was long term hospitalized. But I had not asked for this money and it did not even have an explanation with it.
I put it in a savings account and thank God I did. I figured if a few months passed uneventfully I’d use it.
Nope. We got a very hostile letter a couple months later demanding it back in full and immediately and warning of ugly consequences if we did not. Insinuating that we were fraudulent low life’s. I guess we just weren’t suffering enough.
I am so grateful I did not use it to pay bills down. I was able to return it with no penalty and no more nasty threats.
Jerks.
well you figured it out ...
Yes, People do defraud the government with SSA. A spouse will die and they don’t report it. It takes up to a year for death index database to be updated with local death certificates. A surviving child’s guardian or parent will falsely claim that the child is still in school into the child’s 20th birthday.
Apparently, the 100% repayment requirement has been in place for a long time. What, then, was the cause of such a crisis that the government reduced the 100% requirement to 10%? Looks like a serious case of mismanagement during the past few years. At any rate, the people falling under the 10% umbrella get to stay there anyway, the return to 100% is only moving forward.
IMHO, this is a showcase for how bad the democrats (and republicans, too) were mismanaging our money
"Can't stop The Revolution, man! Whitey owes us!"
In my opinion, clawing back money from corporations (like the fictitious ones Biden was funding) and universities is a political winner. Trying to punish seniors and the disabled with and unexpected crippling reduction in their money because of a government mistake - not fraud - is stupid politically stupid, almost suicidal.
Social Security says it will restart clawing back 100% of overpayments to beneficiaries.
Illegals doing a lot of self deporting soon.
A story as old as the hills
We would see overpayments in the military on our checks
The standard was to bank it, because we knew the paymaster was going to come for it
Why is this so hard for these bastards?
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