Ssa Reverses Course, Will Withhold 50% Of Benefits For Some Overpaid Recipients

The Social Security Administration (SSA) reversed people — astatine slightest partially — and announced it would only withhold 50% of nan monthly use for immoderate group affected by overpayments. In March, nan SSA announced it would statesman taking 100% of a person’s Social Security cheque if they were recovered to person been overpaid, meaning they received much benefits than they were expected to.

However, conscionable weeks later, nan SSA partially reversed its decision, announcing it would trim nan withholding magnitude to 50% of nan monthly use for definite individuals impacted by overpayments. This intends immoderate beneficiaries affected by overpayments will now get to support half of their monthly use alternatively than having it each withheld.

Policy applies to Title II recipients

The revised argumentation applies to recipients of Title II benefits — which encompasses retirement, survivors and disablement security — according to an soul emergency connection distributed to SSA labor successful April. According to nan agency, nan 50% clawback for overpayments began April 25.

“Obviously, it’s amended not to suffer each of your income,” Kate Lang, head of national income information astatine Justice successful Aging, a nationalist defense group focused connected fighting elder poverty, told NBC News. “But if you’re relying connected your benefits to salary your rent aliases your owe and bargain food, losing half of that income is going to beryllium devastating and tin still consequence successful group becoming homeless.”

Temporary clawback limit lasted 1 year

Last year, successful consequence to superior problems specified arsenic seniors and abnormal group being pushed into financial hardship aliases homelessness, nan Biden management constricted really overmuch nan SSA could return backmost from overpaid beneficiaries and capped nan clawback complaint astatine 10%. However, that lasted astir a year.

Overpayments often owed to SSA errors

In 2022, nan SSA’s inspector general, an soul watchdog, discovered that 73,000 overpayments happened because of errors made by nan SSA itself, not because nan group receiving nan benefits did thing wrong.

SSA struggles pinch soul issues

In a new study from Kaiser Family Foundation Health News, nan SSA is experiencing issues. People are being wrongly marked arsenic dead, payments are getting delayed aliases lost, and basal tasks are slipping done nan cracks. The issues person only been exacerbated since caller shake-ups astatine nan agency, including unit layoffs, tech glitches, and efforts to cleanable up databases — each tied to a push by Elon Musk and nan Department of Government Efficiency during President Donald Trump’s second-term inaugural to conflict fraud and modernize nan system.

However, critics opportunity it’s backfiring, leaving immoderate of nan astir susceptible Americans struggling conscionable to get nan benefits they trust on.