General Discussions

Jonee made reference to a 60-Minutes story about Social Security benefits that was quite concerning. When I practiced law at Legal Aid, this was an area I worked in, so it got my attention. I hestitate to go too deep with my thoughts on this - I need to be clear this is not "legal advice" but merely my quick observations, but I do think it's worth talking about.

The concern is that some Social Security recipients have been overpaid benefits and then the Social Security Administration asks for the overpayments to be paid back.

While this does happen, given the amount of money paid out every year, the actual percentage of people who get these overpayment notifications is relatively small. But it does happen and there is a process the SSA uses to collect: https://blog.ssa.gov/learn-about-overpayments-and-our-process/

These overpayments can happen when people are determined to be disabled and receive benefits before the age requirement - these disability programs are SSDI for people with enough work history, and SSI for people who have very little work earnings and thus have not paid the required amount into SS to quality for the SSDI benefits. A common issue is that the person receiving money under these SS plans gets better and is judged able to hold "a job in the national economy." Not necessarily their former type of job - but ANY job. When I was representing SS clients, I always made sure to be VERY clear to them that if they started working again or they got better (and SS would periodically ask them to go see one of their doctors), they had to be VERY clear on their earnings. The SSA spells this out in paperwork received by the payee- the person receiving the benefits.

Another issue that involves people of retirement age is that the amount they are to recieve has been miscalcuated. The government doesn't have the correct earnings history. In the 60 Minutes case several people's salaries had been attributed to one person. So they were "overpaid" by about $70,000 by the time the SSA caught the mistake. The reverse can happen too - my dear friend Royce Fulmer whose memoir was the first book I published, was on the verge of bankruptcy, got a call to come into the SSA local office, and was told he would be receiving a check for $67,000 because he had been underpaid!

So, what can you do? Everyone receives periodic statements from the SSA telling us what our projected retirement earnings will be based on our past earnings. This statement, if I recall correctly, gives a yearly report of your income. You could check that with your own records to make sure it is correct. You can also use the SSA's benefits calculator: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/calculators/ I do not want to blame those who have found themselves in a mess - often these are people who feel awful and just getting through the day is a challenge. I have seen suffering in this context first hand, having represented many people who were fighting to get their disability. Yet, this is an example where personal responsibility for understanding your paid-in earnings and potential SS payments is important.

Here is a link to online tools to help with calculations: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/calculators/

CBS has an article on what to do if you are facing an overpayment problem: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/preventing-social-security-overpayments-60-minutes/

Finally, this issue also shows the importance of being able to find help when you need it. It's one of the many reasons I vote for politicians who support free legal services to the poorand make a yearly donation at the holidays. Each state has its own Legal Aid non profit. There is a national organization, Legal Services Corporation, that provides outstanding legal advocacy for the poor. Sadly, this organziation has faced incredible attacks in my lifetime: on Ronald Reagan's first day in the Oval Office, he tried to kill LSC. He succeeded in gutting its funding in half which devistated Legal Aid organizations across the country, including Kansas Legal Services. My former boss had to lay off half of the state's staff. It motivated him to come up with a "for profit" business that could make money to support KLS. Thus, Midland Professional Services was born, the organzation my husband Steve has been the CFO for almost 30 years.

And now you know the rest of the story.

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