Surprise!

     From Yahoo Finance:

He lived a complete life in the U.S. He went to school, worked in law enforcement, got married, raised a family, paid his taxes and voted in elections.

But in 2020 — when Klass [oddly the article never mentions Klass' first name] was gearing down to live out his retirement in Clearwater, Florida — one of the benefits of a post-working life he thought that he earned was suddenly ripped away from him.

 Klass received a shocking letter from the Social Security Administration (SSA) stating he would not be sent the $1,649.90 monthly retirement benefits he’d previously been approved for because he’s not actually a U.S. citizen. ...

Klass was born in Canada. His mom was Canadian and his father was American, born and raised in New York. The family moved to the U.S. in 1959, and Klass has lived in the country ever since — believing he was a dual citizen.

He told the news station his roots were never questioned when he secured critical pieces of ID, including his Social Security card, driver’s license and voter registration card. He was approved to serve as a marine in the U.S. military and later worked for the New Jersey state police. He says his citizenship status was never questioned.

“I’ve been voting for over 40 years,” he chuckled, adding: “I guess I’m in a lot of trouble.”  ...

    I've had a client who was in a similar situation -- born in France to a woman who then married a U.S. citizen. The family moved to the U.S. when the child was stil quite young. The parents were supposed to file some paperwork so the child would officially be a U.S. citizen but they never got around to it. The child was unaware of the problem until Social Security discovered it and denied benefits.

    By the way, should this foreigner be locked up for voting all those times in the U.S.?

The Only Real Fix For Social Security Is More Babies?

What about more people like these taking the citizenship oath?

     Megan McArdle writes for the Washington Post that "The only real fix to Social Security’s [long term funding] problems? More babies."

    More babies would certainly help but only in the long run. It may be literally impossible for the government to get women to have more babies, anyway. Fertility is a deep cultural thing which may be beyond any incentives the government can provide. Even if you can figure out a way to increase fertility it would be at least a couple of decades before it would help.

    In any case, more babies isn't the only solution. The other solution is increased immigration. That gives an immediate increase in the working age population. Also, for literally centuries, the U.S. economy has been invigorated by the contributions of immigrants. They're good for the U.S. The problem with increased immigration is that those who most want to immigrate to the U.S. tend to be black or brown which enrages a significant portion of the existing population.

Op Ed On The SSI Marriage Penalty But It's More Complicated Than Presented

    There's an op ed in the New York Times on the marriage penalty in the SSI program which is preventing a couple who each have Down Syndrome from marrying. 

    The author completely misses or at least doesn't write about the strong possibility that the couple will soon be eligible for Disabled Adult Child (DAC) benefits, if they're not already. Marriage won't be a problem for DAC as long as both are eligible for DAC, which is itself crazy! DAC pays benefits on the Social Security account of a parent but the parent must be deceased or on benefits on their own account. Since the man with Down Syndrome is 44 and the woman is 40, their parents are at or near retirement age. Usually marriage ends DAC but not if you marry someone who is also eligible for DAC.

    I hate, hate, hate counseling someone newly entitled to DAC that they probably don't want to get married because it will probably end their DAC but it's my job. This may be the worst provision in the Social Security Act.

Overpayment Administrative Tolerance Changing From $1,000 To $2,000 Today

     From Emergency Message EM-24019:

... Effective May 13, 2024, we are updating the administrative waiver tolerance policy to improve customer service, reduce the burden to overpaid individuals, and increase front-line staff efficiency. We are implementing the following changes: ...

· Increased the administrative waiver tolerance amount from $1,000 to $2,000 for Title II and Title XVI. ...

    What does this mean? It means that if you have an overpayment below $2,000 it will now be waived pretty much automatically -- as long as you ask for waiver.

Another Social Security Blog Aimed At Claimants

     My firm has started a new blog directed at Social Security disability claimants, rather than Social Security professionals. It's called For The Frustrated Social Security Disability Claimant. Here are links to some recent posts:

• Some Grim Numbers

• Creamy Or Crunchy?

• Higher Taxes On Billionaires To Support Social Security?
  

• Why Does Social Security Turn Down So Many 100% Disabled Vets?

• Getting Your Papers In Order

• Twelve Secrets For Doing Your Best At Your Social Security Disability Hearing

• What's A BNC?

• There's Help For Frustrated Social Security Disability Claimants

• Don't Be Your Own Worst Enemy!

• Top Three Tips for Winning a Social Security Disability Case

• Social Security Disability: Working Despite the Pain

• Why Did The Rate At Which Social Security Disability Claims Were Filed Plummet After 2000?

 

Deep Red In More Than One Way

 

From a Social Security fact sheet

Does This Make You Feel Better?

     I don't know whether this will make the U.S. Social Security Administration feel any better about its own telephone service but it sounds like they're having similar problems in the United Kingdom, although I may have to explain that the entity that I'm linking to, Rightsnet, is a U.K. organization of people involved in helping those with social security problems in that nation. The image to the left mentions the two main types of social security disability benefits in the U.K.

Top Ten Baby Names For 2023

     As announced by Social Security:

Boys	Girls
1. Liam	1. Olivia
2. Noah	2. Emma
3. Oliver	3. Charlotte
4. James	4. Amelia
5. Elijah	5. Sophia
6. Mateo	6. Mia
7. Theodore	7. Isabella
8. Henry	8. Ava
9. Lucas	9. Evelyn
10. William	10. Luna