(NewsNation) — The Social Security Administration is about to get more aggressive in recovering overpayments made to recipients.
On Thursday, the agency will revert to withholding 100% of monthly benefits from overpaid accounts until the complete sum has been collected. Last year, the SSA, citing financial concerns for recipients, eased back on overpayment collections by withholding only 10% until the debt was erased.
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People whose Social Security benefits were garnished prior to this week’s change will be grandfathered into the 10% rate of collection, officials said.
Social Security had $23B uncollected overpayment balance in 2023 fiscal year
In July 2024, a report from the agency’s inspector general found that Social Security sent about $71.8 billion in improper payments between the fiscal years of 2015 and 2022. Most of these overpayments were to living individuals.
A portion of the overpayments has been recovered, but Social Security still had a $23 billion uncollected overpayment balance at the end of the 2023 fiscal year, according to the audit.
Overpayments can happen for many reasons, including:
If someone’s income is more than they expected.
If an individual’s marital status changes.
If accurate information isn’t reported to the agency.
A report from 2022 by the Social Security inspector general showed that around 73,000 overpayments in 2022 were because of a lack of “effective controls over benefit-computation accuracy.”
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This policy will affect new overpayment cases starting on March 27, according to CBS News. If you were overpaid before that date, the withholding rate will stay at 10%.
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Dan Adcock, director of government relations and policy for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, an advocacy group, told CBS MoneyWatch, “If an overpayment is being made, that means the Social Security Administration is withholding 100% of their payment for however long it takes to repay the agency — and they are without money to pay for food…”
Adcock also said it could affect the 40% of beneficiaries who are relying on the Social Security program for at least 90% of their income.
CBS News reported that, during the Joe Biden administration, the agency capped this clawback rate at 10% because reports showed that the higher clawback rate had caused financial hardship and homelessness, according to KFF Health News.
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SSA officials say they expect to collect $7 billion more over the next decade under the reversal.
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“We have the significant responsibility to be good stewards of the trust funds for the American people,” Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of Social Security, said in an online post earlier this month. “It is our duty to revise the overpayment repayment policy back to full withholding, as it was during the Obama administration and first Trump administration, to properly safeguard taxpayer funds.”
Recipients can ask for a lower recovery rate on their benefits or challenge the finding of overpayment by contacting Social Security at 800-772-1213 or going to their local office.
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The withholding rate for Supplemental Security Income overpayments will remain 10%, officials said.
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The change comes as the Social Security Administration is being targeted for a “significant” level of job cuts as part of a broader downsizing of government.
Critics allege the SSA system is rife with fraud, which has caused Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to look closer into the agency. Roughly 72.5 million people receive Social Security benefits.
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In March, a federal judge temporarily blocked DOGE from the Social Security systems that have millions of Americans’ personal data.
U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander in Maryland also said the team needed to delete any personally identifiable data they might have. This comes after labor unions and retirees asked for an emergency order limiting DOGE’s access to the agency.
