Homeless In Atlanta Due To Overpayment

    From WSB in Atlanta:

Denise Woods drives around Georgia strip malls, truck stops, and parking lots, looking for a safe place to sleep each night.

“It’s scary. You just don’t know what each day is going to bring,” Woods said.

Everything she owns is jammed into the back seat of her car.

According to a letter sent by the Social Security Administration, the agency is demanding back nearly $58,000 after determining it was overpaying her.

Because of her disability, Lupus, and congestive heart failure, she can only work part-time and makes just $14 per hour.

 So, the agency is withholding her entire monthly check - about $2,000 per month until February 2026. 

“I still don’t know how it happened,” said Woods, who has requested a waiver and is seeking a hearing. “No one will give me answers. It takes weeks or months to get a caseworker on the phone. They have made my life unbearable.” ...

    You can say that she really needs to work out a repayment schedule but she can't get anyone on the phone. Also, and more important, she doesn't know to ask. Yes, she gets notices but most claimants understand very little contained in any notice they receive from Social Security.

Representation Of Claimants Way Down In 2023

     From Social Security's FOIA Reading Room:

Click on image to view full size

Happy New Year!

 

December 31

 

CPBB Chart Book Updated

     The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has issued an updated version of its Chart Book: Social Security Disability Insurance. Here are three charts from the book. As always click on an image to view full size:

 

The Time Is At Hand

 

Past Time For Social Security To Do Something About Its Occupational Data Problem

      David Weaver, a former Social Security official, has written a piece for The Hill urging that incoming Social Security Commissioner O’Malley do something about the agency’s reliance on occupational data that is more than 40 years old in making determinations on disability claims. 

     I can only guess at what has been going on behind the scenes. My guess is that the agency would love to rely upon contemporary occupational data, as long as it doesn’t change who gets approved and who gets denied. They’re particularly terrified of using data that leads to more claims being approved. My strong suspicion is that updated data would show that too many claims are being denied. Am I being unfair to those involved at Social Security? Maybe, but they always have the option of giving a coherent explanation for all the delay. Instead, they keep everything top secret. Who wouldn’t have dark suspicions about what’s been going on?