From a press release issued by John Tanner, the Chairman of the House Social Security Subcommittee:
Here is a link to the letter to GAO.U. S. Rep. John Tanner, Chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security, has asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate reports that the Social Security Administration (SSA) often makes payments to disability insurance beneficiaries long after these payments should have stopped. Congressman Sam Johnson, ranking Republican for the Subcommittee, joined Congressman Tanner in his request. ...
When Social Security disability beneficiaries return to work and earn beyond a certain threshold, SSA is supposed to stop their benefits. But reports from a range of sources – including advocates for disability beneficiaries and the SSA Inspector General – say that SSA often does not stop benefit payments in time. According to recent testimony before the Subcommittee on Social Security, even beneficiaries who properly inform SSA that they are working can receive large overpayments; in one case cited, a beneficiary who had reported his earnings promptly was still overpaid by almost $64,000. ...
In addition, advocates state that beneficiaries are often unaware that they are being paid in error until they receive a large bill from SSA for benefits they are then expected to repay.
I have represented quite a number of clients who notified Social Security that they had gone back to work but who kept receiving checks from Social Security. I would be representing many more of these folks if the lack of back benefits did not force me to to demand my fee upfront to go into escrow. I wish more attorneys were willing to handle overpayment cases. Most are unwilling to fool with having to petition for approval of a fee. (By the way, Social Security could simplify this for everyone by setting a flat maximum fee for all overpayment cases. There is clear statutory authority for doing so.)
All outstanding overpayments should be disposed of by a general amnesty until and unless sufficient staff exists in the field offices to process reports of change of all kinds, including earned income from work activity. The situation is so dire that in many offices, including mine, we do not even address SSI overpayments--there is literally no staff to process them.
ReplyDeleteHear, hear. Unfortunately, no one in Congress will go for it. No one. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteWhile the congressmen are at it, why don't they demand that the DIB backlog be eliminated and that waiting lines in every field office be reduced. And while they are at it, they should demand that they themselves be replaced by cardboard cut outs next to a cassette tape that plays, "Bad things are bad. They're bad cause they're bad."
ReplyDeleteIt would save everyone a lot of time and money.