It's the shortest day of the year.
Dec 20, 2020
Dec 19, 2020
Ways And Means Subcommittee Chairs Ask For Action On Covid-19 Related Overpayments
Today, House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John B. Larson (D-CT) and Worker and Family Support Subcommittee Chairman Danny K. Davis (D-IL) sent a letter to Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Andrew Saul demanding that SSA forgive repayment of extra benefits paid to Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This fall, SSA began notifying beneficiaries about these extra benefit payments, which were paid through no fault of their own. SSA also set up a limited process for some beneficiaries to have repayment of their COVID-19 overpayments forgiven. However there have been widespread reports that many beneficiaries have been unable to access even this limited relief.
“With the clock ticking, we urge SSA to immediately extend and expand the streamlined waiver process, providing all beneficiaries with immediate, automatic relief from COVID-19 overpayments. We also request that you provide us with detailed information on SSA’s actions and any relief that has been provided, to date,” wrote Larson and Davis.
“It is unfair and unjust for SSA to allow any hurdles to prevent beneficiaries from accessing relief from these COVID-19 overpayments,” continued Larson and Davis. “We urge SSA to immediately provide automatic relief for all beneficiaries with a COVID-19 overpayment, regardless of whether or not they apply for relief.”
The full letter can be viewed here.
Dec 18, 2020
No Answer From Saul Or Biden Transition On Commissioner Position
Joe Davidson at the Washington Post has devoted a column to the effort to get Andrew Saul fired as Social Security Commissioner. It's clear that Davidson doesn't understand the constitutional issue involved but he does detail the pressure to get Saul out. Of interest to me in the column was this sentence: "Neither the agency nor Biden’s team responded to requests for comment." I have to guess that things are still up in the air.
By the way, as I've asked before, when will the Post retire that same tired photo they've been using for years to illustrate articles having to do with the Social Security Administration?
Social Security Starts To Track Disability Claims As A Result Of Covid-19
Social Security has issued an Emergency Message telling its staff to start flagging disability claims where Covid-19 is alleged as an impairment. They're not giving any instructions on how to adjudicate the cases. For now, they just want to track them.
We'll see how common disability claims as a result of Covid-19 will be. Thus far in my practice, I have clients who have had Covid-19 but none who have suffered long term consequences as a result of the infection. I've not taken on any new clients alleging Covid-19 as an impairment. I haven't heard from other attorneys who have. It's still early, though. There may be cases coming but those affected are still hoping they'll get better. Remember, there's a 12 month duration requirement in the definition of disability that Social Security must use. You can be very, very sick but still recover in less than 12 months.
Dec 17, 2020
Try To Get Paid Before Checking Out
From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):
... When underpaid beneficiaries are deceased, SSA should pay the underpayment to a surviving spouse, child, or parent or to the legal representative of the decedent’s estate. ...
SSA did not always take proper actions to pay underpayments due terminated beneficiaries. In December 2015, SSA improved systems controls to pay underpayments due deceased beneficiaries to eligible surviving spouses. However, this control does not identify underpayments due to all terminated beneficiaries. For the 100 terminated beneficiaries in our sample, we found
- 39 had underpayments that should be paid to eligible beneficiaries;
- 25 were cases where SSA did not locate the beneficiaries or individuals who were eligible for the underpayments;
- 7 had erroneous underpayments that should have been corrected or removed from the Master Beneficiary Record; and
- 29 were correctly paid or resolved. ...
When one of my clients dies, which is not a rare occurrence, I always make sure to find and alert the person due whatever back benefits there may be. I've always had the impression that unless I did it or some survivor of the decedent contacted Social Security, there was a good chance that it wouldn't get done, that the back benefits would never get paid.
By the way, it's also not unusual for one of my clients to ask what happens if they die before getting paid. Yes, some of them are pessimistic enough to ask that question even though they're not facing a life threatening condition.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)