Social Security

At a Senate confirmation hearing, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said he would address hardships the Social Security agency has caused by demanding money back from beneficiaries.

COVID-19 relief payments weren’t supposed to cost people their Social Security benefits, but some recipients say they did. Senators want to know why.

Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi was pressed by a House subcommittee to explain why so many poor, disabled or retired people are suddenly hit with demands that can reach tens of thousands of dollars.

Some Social Security beneficiaries say the government is clawing back benefits after they received stimulus payments that were supposed to be exempt from asset limits.

Congress is beginning to take action on the Social Security Administration’s clawbacks of payments it mistakenly made to poor, retired and disabled Americans.

In the wake of an investigation by KFF Health News and Cox Media Group, the SSA acting commissioner said a special team will review “overpayment policies and procedures” and report directly back to her.

Lawmakers are faulting the SAA for issuing billions in payments that beneficiaries weren’t entitled to receive — and then demanding the money back — as reported by KFF Health News and Cox Media Group.

Beneficiaries in five states described what happened when they received demands to return overpayments that reached up to tens of thousands of dollars or more.

The Social Security and Medicare trust fund boards warn that both could become insolvent within the next decade without congressional action. If the Medicare Hospital Trust Fund falls short, recipients would face automatic cuts to benefits.

Sen. Rick Scott amended a plan that called for a revote on all federal legislation after five years. Democrats seized on it to accuse Republicans of looking to cut the programs.