Elderly Woman With Disabled Son Ordered To Pay Back $63,000 to the SSA

[hearlady]

Its is personal responsibility to make sure you are receiving payments, compensation, etc. that are correct.
If SS underpaid her for years she would have a right to ask and receive that money back.
That said, I feel for her and think they should accept a payment schedule not the entire amount at once.

 

[JustDave]

It's very easy to jump to conclusions when all the facts are not on the table, and media doesn't always include all the facts. I think it's intentional at times, but I can't prove this. This particular issue lacked a lot of clarity. I spent a lot of time trying to formulate my own opinion about this $63 K issue, and at this point I'm not even trying. I'm in a watch and listen mode only.

 

[Muskrat]

Ok. I was wrong. She can work with pretty strict rules while drawing disability. The time frames and rules are well defined by the agency. Work and earnings must be reported. She was smart if she was a nurse…and no doubt was educated as to what the work limits were…which was probably why she did not report. She probably assumed she would not get caught.

 

[CallMeKate]

Ok. I was wrong. She can work with pretty strict rules while drawing disability. The time frames and rules are well defined by the agency. Work and earnings must be reported. She was smart if she was a nurse…and no doubt was educated as to what the work limits were…which was probably why she did not report. She probably assumed she would not get caught.

This was my conclusion, too. No idea if something like pension was being drawn as well. Taking it on a media blitz and using terms like "disabled elderly widow" and "terrified" and "poor disabled senior" is going for a sympathy vote. I *really* hope there's not a gofundme!

 

[Trade]

How does someone not notice being overpaid by that much? If it was over a period of 5 years that would mean she was being overpaid by about a grand a month. Leading up to my retirement I had calculated to a gnats ass how much my monthly social security and pension payments would be. If I had started getting checks that were a thousand dollars more than what I expected them to be I would have picked up the phone and called someone and asked them to recheck their numbers.

 

[Muskrat]

@Trade …I believe she is being hit with the full amount of benefits paid. She had taken social security disability instead of social security. I assume the amount being higher for disability. Then she did not follow the rules for reporting monies earned while taking disability. This has triggered the government to claw back what they consider monies paid.