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(NewsNation) — The Social Security Administration is reinstating its program to reclaim 100% of overpayments made to beneficiaries — a ten-fold leap from the existent rate, the agency announced Friday.
By asking for 100% of overpayments to beryllium repaid by recipients, the bureau could prevention astir $7 cardinal implicit the adjacent decade, the Office of the Chief Actuary estimated. The caller complaint volition instrumentality effect March 27.
"We person the important work to beryllium bully stewards of the spot funds for the American people,” said Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of Social Security, successful a statement.
“It is our work to revise the overpayment repayment argumentation backmost to afloat withholding, arsenic it was during the Obama medication and archetypal Trump administration, to decently safeguard payer funds," Dudek said.
Improper Social Security payments
The SSA discarded its 100% per paycheck argumentation — successful favour of 10%, acceptable by Biden — past twelvemonth aft years of improper payments near immoderate beneficiaries grappling with monolithic repayment bills, drafting media and governmental ire.
One lawsuit cited successful a 2024 study from the Office of the Inspector General found that the SSA overpaid a disablement beneficiary by astir $62,000.
The SSA learned of the mistake successful June 2021, aft the beneficiary had already received an other $9,000 implicit 4 months, but the medication did not instrumentality enactment to cod the overpayment until May 2023. By then, the beneficiary had received an further $53,000, according to the Office of the Inspector General.
With a 100% withholding complaint reinstated, recipients similar those would apt spot their payments mostly oregon wholly withheld for repayment purposes.
Shannon Benton, enforcement manager of Senior Citizens League, told CBS News: "The 'clawback' of payments is particularly unfair to seniors who bash not person outer enactment to assistance negociate their finances and way their benefits."
DOGE downsizes Social Security
The SSA hasn't been spared from the Department of Government Efficiency's fund cuts and downsizing plans.
The latest circular of cuts saw the immediate oregon planned closure of 47 Social Security offices crossed the country. The southeastern U.S. was deed the hardest, with astir fractional of each closures taking spot successful Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Mississippi and Arkansas.
DOGE person Elon Musk besides falsely claimed that millions of dormant beneficiaries were receiving monthly checks successful “the biggest fraud successful history.”
It's existent that records with incomplete decease accusation person plagued the agency, but a 2023 agency inspector wide report found “almost none” of the 18.9 cardinal radical listed arsenic 100 oregon older were receiving benefits.
“What Musk has tweeted is not chiefly an illustration of fraud but much similar the messy databases kept by Social Security,” said Alex Nowrasteh, vice president for economical and societal argumentation studies astatine the libertarian Cato Institute.
In a February news release, the bureau said each its employees had been told to hole for “significant workforce reductions.”
Employees could beryllium fired oregon redirected, portion immoderate positions could beryllium eliminated completely.
“Reassignments whitethorn beryllium involuntary and whitethorn necessitate retraining for caller workloads,” the merchandise said.
NewsNation's Patrick Djordjevic and Liz Jassin contributed to this report.
