WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are urging the Social Security Administration to address and fix mistaken overpayment issues that are creating financial hardships for many Social Security recipients.
13 ON YOUR SIDE previously connected with many West Michiganders who were told they have to pay back thousands of dollars to the Social Security Administration due to SSA errors.
Greenville veteran Dan Calkins got a letter from the Social Security Administration in 2022 saying he'd been overpaid $37,556 dollars and would need to pay it back.
Many families like Calkins do not have an extra $37,000 to hand back to the SSA.
A Kalamazoo woman with a disability learned she'd been overpaid benefits, and would have to pay back the SSA $100,000.
More than 71 million Americans, including 2 million Michigan natives, receive Social Security benefits.
Those who use these benefits are often the most vulnerable populations, like seniors, people with disabilities, retirees and low-income Americans.
Recent reporting, including reports from 13 ON YOUR SIDE, has shown an increase in the number of mistaken overpayments to beneficiaries, often due to errors or lapses by the agency.
In many cases, overpayments had accumulated over several years before the SSA realized its payments were inaccurate. These mistakes have totaled tens of thousands of dollars or more.
U.S. Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow said this issue has created severe financial distress for many households whose beneficiaries are asked to abruptly repay the overpayments in full, or whose payments are halted or significantly reduced in an attempt by the agency to rectify the incorrect payments.
They penned a joint letter requesting the SSA to provide answers on how it plans to both correct these issues and improve payment accuracy while ensuring Americans receive their benefits.
“We have heard from numerous Michiganders regarding the impact unexpected overpayments that were sent by the SSA have caused on some of the most vulnerable beneficiaries of Social Security, who often include the elderly, disabled, retirees, and many who struggle to get by on limited income and resources,” the senators wrote.
“Overpayments can pose incredibly difficult hardships on beneficiaries who’ve committed no wrongdoing and are now responsible for repaying improper payments. Because of their devastating impact, it is critical for the agency to improve its processes and controls to reduce the number of overpayments for beneficiaries who rely on these critical benefits.”
Over the past several years, the SSA distributed more than $6 billion in new overpayments each year.
According to the SSA’s most recent financial report, the agency paid more than $11 billion worth of new overpayments to Social Security and SSI beneficiaries during fiscal year 2022 alone. The number of new overpayments has grown in recent years, and the agency now requests repayment from more than 2 million Americans each year.
You can read the letter here:
The Social Security Administration said in a statement issued in October 2023 that:
"Each person’s situation is unique, and the agency handles overpayments on a case-by-case basis. In particular, if a person doesn’t agree that they’ve been overpaid, or believes the amount is incorrect, they can appeal. If they believe they shouldn’t have to pay the money back, they can request that the agency waive collection of the overpayment. There’s no time limit for filing a waiver."
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