From the Virginian-Pilot:
Widows and widowers who were shortchanged on Social Security benefits by an estimated $131.8 million won’t get any of that money back, despite an Inspector General report calling for action.
Earlier this year, the administration’s Office of the Inspector General issued an audit report that determined the Social Security Administration underpaid 9,224 people over the age of 70. In addition, as more people in this group turn 70, the underpayment will amount to $9.8 million annually, auditors found.
The report said SSA officials agreed to “take action, as appropriate” for 41 beneficiaries it identified directly in the sample study and determine if it should review the records of more than 13,000 other beneficiaries. It also asked the administration to review its procedures and staff training for informing beneficiaries of their claiming options.
SSA has since provided “nationwide training” to field office workers about these survivor options and changed the language in application materials, said Darren Lutz, a Social Security spokesman.
It won’t, however, change anyone’s benefits retroactively based on the study.
“We reviewed the cases from the audit and determined they were adjudicated correctly, according to the law,” he said in an email. He declined to comment beyond the statement or make officials available to discuss the training. ...It really seems as if the Social Security Administration is acting as if Republicans will control the House of Representatives forever. It's a better than even bet that Democrats control the House of Representatives next year.
3 comments:
Retirement claim withdrawals are limited to 1 year from their first benefit month. These widow's elected retirement instead of delaying them for widow's benefits. The supposed "underpayment" is not an underpayment as defined in 20 CFR 404.501 part (a). It is an estimate of what they might have seen if they delayed their own benefit until 70. There is nothing that could be done for most of these widow's because more than 1 year has passed.
And stop painting everything as Republican vs Democrat. Both parties want beneficiaries to elect reduced benefits because it saves more money in the long run.
If anything, the only action Congress needs to taken is repeal 202(w) of the Act because in the majority of cases it only benefits the rich.
I wish OIG would prosecute the referrals of folks who committed fraudulent acts vs doing studies like this. I still haven't gotten one OIG referral to be acted upon. I guess applying for benefits for children that live 1000 miles away and receiving them for years isn't bad enough but widows and widowers making poor choices when they filed or didn't file for benefits is.
Sometimes people come in to file at 63 or 64 that haven't worked in a few years and would have filed at age 62 if we had specifically told them to do so. Are they underpayments as well? If so, I think the numbers would be much greater than this article mentions.
While we are mentioning widows and filing for retirement, when are DRCs for widows who receive benefits for up to 10 years going to be done away with. I thought the whole purpose of DRCs was to encourage people to wait to file. If someone is receiving widows benefits from age 66-70, why should they get DRCs for delaying filing for retirement?
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