Social Security stopped a man’s benefits benefits because they say he’s in prison but a TV station found him at home saying he’s never been in prison. He couldn’t get the agency to restore his benefits. Twenty-four hours after the TV station starts asking Social Security about the case, the benefits are resumed. Funny how that happens.
8 comments:
This happens a couple times a year. 8 on your side gets their attention PDQ!
ESPN ran a story about all the Tom Brady's in the Boston area. They even found 12 that were named Thomas Edward Patrick Brady, in addition to the Patriots' quarterback. How to tell them apart? If only some organization invented a number that distinguished them... Hmmm. You would think that the outfit that gives a number to everyone could then use those numbers to tell 2 different people apart. If you can't trust an organization to look at its numbers to tell which person is which, then how can you trust it to make more difficult decisions, such as whether a given person is disabled or not?
The prison incentive payments result in all sorts of trouble for SSA. Many of the incarceration reports show a conviction, but later on SSA finds out the beneficiary wasn't convicted until much later. Same with probation violations.
County jails and such use all sorts of 3rd party programs to try and identify uncooperative inmates and will often choose the SSN for the beneficiary. SSA assumes if the jail was able to get the SSN, it must be correct.
Given that the feds allow civil forfeiture, jails and courts should be required to report correct information at the right time without further incentives.
Sometimes the prison authorities simply report whatever SSN the prisoner gives them. They don't bother to check. It is left up to SSA to verify.
@Tim, maybe not everybody who's arrested knows their SSN or has one or provides it accurately or it doesn't get recorded properly?
I find that my clients have more luck calling their congressperson than SSA.
If only folks resorted to writing their congressperson when there was a problem! Frequently we get requests for help that we can't do a thing about--someone filed two weeks ago and has a condition/situation that normally would take 3 months to get a decision. They aren't going to hear much sooner but every month someone from the field office or DDS has to write the Congressperson to give status. A huge waste of time that takes time away from cases that do need special attention. So if there is a problem, it's worth asking for help outside the agency but otherwise don't bother.
Former TE here. I did suspensions based on reports from the jails and prisons. Before suspending, I was to verify first, is the individual still being held? Then before suspending, compare names, DOB, SSN,. Often there are people with the same name, but not the same DOB too. Once in a while I could tell it couldn't be the right person based on their age, or their disability. Of course, not every SSA employee is careful, maybe they are doing their job in a rote fashion, or maybe they don't care. Once a beneficiary gets the letter that their benefits are suspended, and the suspension is erroneous, it's easy enough to confirm they aren't incarcerated and reinstate them. I don't know why a call or visit wouldn't work.
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