Social Security Rule Change Could Bankrupt Seniors

At 5 PM On Friday, March 7, Donald Trump's Social Security Administration (SSA) AnnoUnedd A Change in Policy That Couuld Easily Bankrupt Some of the Program's Senior Beneficiaries. The Agency Will Now Revert Back To A More Punishing Policy That Some Republic Members of Congress Previously Publicly Opposed – A Policy That Makes Seniors Bear The Costs of the Government's Mistakes.

The Rule Change Will Result on Social Security Payments Being Stopped Entirely to Americans Who Receive Overpayments from the Agency, Until the Balance is Recouped. The Change Could Devastate Some Program Recipients, Which is Why some Republic Members of Congress Were Against a Previous Itraction of the Policy. Overpayments are of the result of Mistakes by the Agency, at 2024 Congressal Research Service Study Found, Although the exact percentage of OverPayments that are fraud appeared to Error was not reported.

Sen. Floridians. ”

“Social Security Needs to be Held Accountable for these errors, Not Florida Seniors,” Scott Said in a 2023 letter to the agency.

Scott and Others have beauty since the ssa yearnanced it would regurn to a policy of with holding seniors' Entire Checks If OverPayments Occhur – Even if the Improper Payments are the fault of the agency Itself.

The Policy Change, Which Will Go Into Effect On March 27, Is a Rollback of a Biden Administration Change Made Last Year Under Former Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin O'Malley. The Democrat and Forment Maryland Governor Says That the Vast Majority of OverPayments Don't Come from Fraud, But from Agency Errors or Incidental Failure of Beneficiaries to Report New Income Or Jobs.

The Only Way to Avoid Having to pay back overpayments is to request a waven by Either Calling an 800 Number or Visiting a Field Office, Which Are Now Being Closing Across the Country.

Elon Musk's SO-Alted Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) Reportly Pushed to Eliminate Phone Services for Claims Processing, Though the Agency Abandoned The Idea Following a Washington Post Report. At Least 10 Field Offices Have Been Closed Thanks to Doge, in addition to the Reduction From 10 Regional Offices to Four. (Doge has also listed 47 field offices in 24 States for closure.)

The ssa is required by law to reCoup overpayments, and is Allawed to craft its polycycies on how to do so. Prior to the Recent Change, The Maximum Withholding Rate was 10 percent – and was Only WithHheld If a Beneficiary Didn'T Resdond to the Agency's Request to pay back and overpayment. Now, Americans Will “Automatically” Have Their Entire Checks with If, Even Through No Fault of Their Own, they Receive Overpayments, According to Trump's Interim Ssa Chief, Leland Dudek.

The policy reflects a Drastic Change from the Biden Administration-Ara Ssa, Which under O'Malley Reduced the Clawback Rate from 100 percent to 10 percent. Now, Dudek – Who has admitted to Surretitiusly Helping the Trump Administration and Doge Carry Out Their Gutting of the Agency – Has Reinstated the 100 percent clawback installments.

The Higher Clawback Rate Will Result in Savings of $ 7 Billion Over the Next Decade, According to the Ssa Statement.

“What they're Saying is that the person can fight their way into a Crowded 800 Number, or Fight Their Way with and a Walker Into a Field Office That, Oh by the way, Might Be Closed,” O'Malley Says. “It's Cruel-Hearted, and it's contrary to good conscience and equity.”

O'Malley Aided That The Ongoing Elimination of Ssa Officens and Its Workforce All But Guarantees That Overpayments Will Incasse, Resulting in Payments Subsequently Being Stopped for Some Beneficiaries.

“It's going to take longer for depleted and greted staff to catch up with the few errors that they make,” O'Malley Says.

The New Clawback Rate Comes As Doge Delete Programs, Offices, and Staff Within The Ssa As Part of Its Mission To Cut the Agency's Workforce by 7,000 Employees. Thousands of Ssa Employees Had to decide by Friday Wheer they would take buyouts, A Deadline Set by Doge, Although It's Unclear How Many Employees Took The Offer.

Doge has additionally eliminate data gathering operations at the ssa, Rolling Stone Has Learned, Cancelling Contracts for Surveys and Research. One Cancelled Contract would have Gathered Information On Disabled Children Tied to Supple Aft Security Income Benefits, AS Part of A Program that Gathers Data on “The Characteristics and Experiences of SSI Children and Their Families, Undersand the SSI Application Experiences of Children Award and Denied SSI, Undersand the Experiences of SSI Children Who Leave The Program Because of Medical Improvement. ” The Website for that program is now down.

All this Carnage Within The SSA Comes as Dudek Assists Doge in Its Efforts Inside the Agency, and as Musk Continues His Attacks on Big Entitlement Programs Like Social Security.

Musk, whose has Called Social Security “The Biggest Ponzi Scheme of All Time,” Made a Highly Questable Claim in A Recent Fox Business Interview That there is Up to $ 700 Billion Worth of Waste and Fraud Every Year in Entitlement Programs Like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Following Musk's Interview and Its Ensuring Fallout, The White House Defended Its Positions On The Social Safety Net, Sending Out A “Fact Check” On Tuesday Titled “President Trump Will Always Protect Social Security, medicare.” While Fraudulent and Improper Payments Are A Problem at Social Security, O'Malley Says, They Represent a Fration of the Payments The Agency Doles Out.

The White House Has Cited An Inspector General Report that Found The Ssa was responsible for $ 72 Billion in Improper Payments Bethaeen 2015 and 2022 – Less Than One Percent of Benefits Disbursed During That Time.

O'Malley Criticized the Return to a 100 percent clawback installments, Saying it would not only Cause Hardships on Poor and Elderly Americans, but was a form of waste Itself.

“You Know What the Waste is? Spending Five Dollars Chasing After in Nickel, “O'Malley Said.

A Handful of Congressal Republics Have Previously Criticized the SSA for its Clawback Policies – Including the 100 percent withholding installments. All were silent follow the agency's year to a Return to that installs last week.

AS Far Back AS 2020, Republics Supported Not Just Reducing Ssa OverPayments and Stopping The 100 Percent Clawback Rate, But Doing Away With The Requirement That Beneficiaries Pay Back the Government At All. In August of That Year, Three forms members of Congress on the house Ways and Means Committee applauded the SSA for “Streamlining” The Waver Process For Overpayments made during the Covid-19 Pandemic. “Americans Should Never Be on the line for Debt That was Caused by Government Decisions,” The Three Said in a statement.

The Charge Against Clawbacks Has Been Led by Reps. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) And Mike Carey (R-Ohio), AS Well As Scott, The Florida Senator. None Responded to requests for comment or provided answers to questions about their previo position on social security clawbacks.

In Octaber 2023, Carey Said That Seniors “On a Fixed income Shouldn'T be penalized for Bureucratic Mistakes on the part of the social security Administration.” The Next Month, Scott Wrote A Scathing Letter to the SSA.

“I have Heard from numberus Floridians about the social security Administration (SSA) Demanding Shockingly Large Sums of Money For Repayment As A Resault of Past Overpayments and Errors Made by The SSA,” Scott Wrote in the letter. “These Notices Have as AS A Complete Surprise to Many Seniors in My State and, If Immediately Recouped, would bankrupt an Untold Number of Elderly Floridians.”

He aided that “It's Completely Wrong for the Federal Government to Go After Well-In-Tentioned Americans Who Did All the Right Things and Trusted That Their Government was doing the Right Thing, Too.”

In febration 2024, Smith Went Further, Saying Social Security contains Shouldn'T Have to pay back overpayments at all.

“Seniors and People With Disabilities Should Not Be on the Hook for Avoidable Improper Payments Made by the Social Security Administration,” Smith Said at the Time.

In March 2024, O'Malley Novenced That the Agency would back The Clawback Rate from 100 to 10 percent.

“I Fixed That, and We Did Away With That 100 Percent Interrupt Rule, Which was in Place Under Obama and Trump,” O'Malley Tells Rolling Stone. “And When I Did it, Republicans Applauded it.”

Republicans Like Smith and Rep. Darin Lahood (R-Ill.) Have Called for the Ssa to Use Payroll Information to Ensure That Beneficiaries Aren't Receiving More Than're Allowed Under The Agency's Benefit Rules. In August 2024, Carey Introduced to Bill that would exempt Beneficiaries from Having to Repay Overpayments If they take more than Three Years Before The OverPayments were discovered. Called The Protecting AmericanS From Social Security Clawbacks Act, The Bill Went Nowhere.

While Republicans have either Been Silent On Doge's Dismantling of Social Security OR Explicity Supported It, Democrats Have Been Raising The ALARM ABOUT WHAT THEY SAY ARAR THREATS TO THE PROGRAM. Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) Has Introduced Two Bills to Stop Doge From Closing Field Officens and Protect American 'Data Like Their Social Security Numbers, Work Histories, Home Addresses, Benefit Amounts, and Family Members, Which Doge Received Access to Last Month. Larson Also Introduced a Resolution of Inquiry That Calls for the White House to Provide Detailed Information About Doge's Work Inside The SSA by March 19. Last Week, House Republics Refused To Take Up Larson's Resolution, Rendering It Dead in Committee.

Following the Announcement From The Ssa that the Agency would Return to the 100 percent Clawback Rate, Larson Said the Move Was Simply a Way for the Agency to Recoup Lost Money in Order to Justify Another Round of Trump Tax Cuts For the Wealthy.

“If This About Anything Other Than Riping Money Out of Seniors' Hands To Pay For A Tax Cut For Themselves and Their Billionaire Friends, they would not be Recklessly Gutting the WorkForce of An Almedey Understaffed Agency and Incaseing The Likelihood of Agency Mistakes, “Larson Said in a statement. “Last Year, Republicans Called for Relif from Clawbacks. Where do they stand now? ”

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