Letter: Social Security policy hurts centenarians

Prescott Courier ^ | 3/10/2010 | Mary Guertin

[radar101]

If you are more than 100 years old, you probably didn't get your February Social Security check! Yes, the federal government has decided to stop all Social Security Checks to those who are past the age of 100. They claim that identity theft is rampant for Social Security claims, so probably most of those for persons over 100 are fraudulent! They have stopped those checks and just sit back and wait for the phone to ring from those persons who didn't receive their payment.

My neighbor has her mother living with her and this lady celebrated her 102nd birthday in December. This new policy came to light this week when the check was not deposited in her account. When the daughter called to inquire about the missing check, she was informed that the agency had started a new policy called "Centenarian Claimant." Now those people have to prove they are still alive!

[radar101]

Must be a Government thig: Punish the law abiders to keep the crime committers in line. This is like the airline rules after the Christmas Day Undy-Bomber: Stay in your seat, No blanket fror you, etc,.

[AU72]

Soon they will be stopping checks when you hit 70.
For good!

[ClearCase_guy]

Instead of a check, did they send a short letter? “Why aren’t you dead yet? You’re messing up our budget!”

[alancarp]

I’m sure that the Census Bureau can help them out here during home visits... oh, wait - they don’t care about ages, just your race.

[The Sons of Liberty]

the agency had started a new policy called "Centenarian Claimant." Now those people have to prove they are still alive!

I'd love to see some old codger go down there and kick some a$$ to show them he was still alive.

[Vermont Lt]

I just did a google search on this and I failed to find anything else about it.

I know Google is not the end-all of research, but if the only place this is showing up is in a ‘Letter to the Editors” section of a weekly grocery store newspaper, I have my doubts as to its validity.

[jim_trent]

Actually there was a similar case where I live. The mother of a guy died about 20 years ago. He kept collecting SS and School Board retirement checks after she died. It came to light when a school board accountant noticed that she had reached 100 and there was nothing in the newspaper about it (they publish an article on everyone who reaches the age of 100). After some investigation, they found out about the fraud. However, the son died of old age before they could convict him of the crime and get at least some of it back.

[massgopguy]

They should apply this to voting.

[OldEagle]

Social Security has done a version of this for a long time. About 40 years ago, the commissioner of Social Security hand delivered the checks to the birthday folks. Likely there are a lot more now.