{"id":1885,"date":"2023-10-19T20:48:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T20:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/?p=1885"},"modified":"2023-10-19T20:48:03","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T20:48:03","slug":"senators-demand-answers-from-social-security-on-clawbacks-tied-to-covid-relief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/?p=1885","title":{"rendered":"Senators Demand Answers From Social Security on Clawbacks Tied to Covid Relief"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Three U.S. senators on a panel that oversees Social Security have called on the Social Security Administration to address a news report saying that, in violation of agency policy, people\u2019s benefits were reduced or suspended because they received covid-19 relief payments.<\/p>\n

The lawmakers, who include Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), sent a letter to acting SSA Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi on Wednesday saying they were \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d and wanted answers to a list of questions within 30 days.<\/p>\n

In 2020 and 2021, to counter the economic fallout of the covid pandemic, the government distributed relief payments to eligible Americans totaling as much as $3,200 per person. The payments typically arrived automatically in mailboxes or bank accounts.<\/p>\n

But, as KFF Health News and Cox Media Group reported this week, some recipients say the payments had an unintended consequence<\/a>: They led the Social Security Administration to claw back other federal benefits, including monthly support payments for people who are poor and either disabled or at least 65.<\/p>\n

The covid relief, known as stimulus or economic impact payments, left some recipients with more money in the bank than the $2,000 asset limit for individuals receiving benefits through a Social Security program called Supplemental Security Income. As a result, the Social Security Administration has sent some people notices alleging they were overpaid and demanding they repay the government, according to people affected.<\/p>\n

In some cases, the agency has cut off SSI payments.<\/p>\n

That wasn\u2019t supposed to happen. According to the agency\u2019s rules, the covid payments, also known as EIPs, do not count toward the asset limit.<\/p>\n

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\u201c[W]e are concerned by recent reporting that SSI beneficiaries have received overpayment notices because of the EIPs, even though SSA determined that EIPs would never be counted toward eligibility for SSI,\u201d the senators wrote to Kijakazi.<\/p>\n

The letter cited the news report<\/a> by CMG and KFF Health News.<\/p>\n

Signing along with Wyden were Democrats Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy, and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, a member of that subcommittee and chair of the Senate Special Committee on Aging.<\/p>\n

The three senators sent a letter to the Social Security Administration\u2019s acting commissioner, Kilolo Kijakazi, on Oct. 18 saying they were \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d and wanted answers to a list of questions within 30 days. The letter cited a recent news report by KFF Health News and Cox Media Group.(Cox Media Group)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe sent it because \u2026 it\u2019s not right that Social Security made a mistake, and the beneficiary shouldn\u2019t have to pay for that mistake,\u201d Brown said Thursday in an interview with CMG\u2019s WHIO-TV in Dayton.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to drop this until they back off,\u201d Brown said, referring to the agency.<\/p>\n

The senators asked Kijakazi about the scope of the problem, including the number of people who had benefits reduced or suspended because of covid payments, the number who had benefits reinstated with or without an appeal, and the outcomes of appeals. They also asked what the agency has been doing about the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know, SSI benefits, while modest, have a substantial impact in the lives of the people who rely on them,\u201d the senators wrote. \u201cBenefit suspensions and overpayment notices \u2014 regardless of the cause \u2014 can have a profound negative impact in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFurther,\u201d they wrote, \u201closing SSI eligibility risks a lengthy and bureaucratic process to restore eligibility and also risks beneficiaries\u2019 access to Medicaid coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n

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