The Disabled in Debt to Social Security: Can Fairness Be Guaranteed?

Abstract

This article addresses a problem often faced by poor individuals who receive Social Security benefits because of an identified physical or mental disability, or both, that is so severe that it prevents such individuals from working. Despite the permanent nature of one’s disability, a beneficiary may decide at some point that he or she would like to try to work. It is this event, although not only this event, that most often triggers the problem of overpayments for beneficiaries of government disability benefits.

This article demonstrates the complex nature of the overpayment situation and how it necessitates legal representation. Hiring a lawyer, however, is virtually impossible in most cases since an overpaid benefits recipient is already in the minus column and can rarely afford representation. Thus, unlike the disability claimant who successfully seeks benefits initially and whose counsel receives at least 25% of the past-due benefits, the disabled beneficiary has the most at stake but the least ability to challenge an overpayment.

The purpose of this article is to urge greater transparency within the Social Security Administration to inform both SSD and SSI recipients of how work and other income will impact their benefits. The article also asserts that local SSA offices must be outfitted with better record-keeping techniques to ensure that recipients who report changes are credited with those reports. This article contends that part of the process is that the SSA must provide recipients with clarity of information regarding what amounts they may earn without losing their SSD benefits, and what specific income may jeopardize the benefits of SSI recipients. Local offices must assign a specific employee to handle reports of income and resources, and must encourage recipients to call this person with any questions. This employee must answer the phone, or must tell callers when they will return their calls. All of these initiatives will help prevent the eventual overpayment situation, which is both costly to the Social Security Administration and stressful to the recipient.

Keywords: Social Security Administration, equity, Social Security benefits, benefits, recipients, overpayments, transparency, record-keeping, reported earnings, SSI, SSD, instances of considerable hardship