From what we are able to inform, Social Safety is sending clawback payments to tens of hundreds of Individuals for errors it made. Social Safety’s coverage is merciless and strange. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston College and the founder and president of Financial Safety Planning, Inc.

Social Safety is clawing again advantages it claims it paid by mistake over years if not many years. Terry Savage and I are gathering these horror tales. Ship Terry yours at terry@terrysavage.com. Beneath is a narrative we simply acquired.

From what we are able to inform, Social Safety is sending clawback payments to tens of hundreds of Individuals for errors it made. Social Safety’s coverage is merciless and strange. Our mistake is your mistake. These letters include no clarification. When you don’t pay up, your advantages are turned off. In the meantime you’ve paid taxes on these advantages. Social Safety doesn’t care in case you are surviving on the advantages and can starve to dying in weeks with out them.

Cellphone calls to enchantment go unanswered or deflected. Formal appeals and letters requesting explanations go unanswered — for years. Requesting assist at native places of work is helpless. That is as dangerous as something Kafka conceived. Congress should go a regulation that stipulates that errors made by Social Safety are usually not recoverable except finished so inside a 12 months and after a full clarification, together with a private listening to.

Social Safety claws again kids for advantages their mother and father acquired on the youngsters’s behalf. It claws again incapacity recipients. It claws again academics and firefighters and police. It claws again 70 12 months olds, 80 years outdated, 90 12 months outdated, folks of any age. It claws again advantages 20 years or longer from the time they’re paid.

That is institutionalized monetary terrorism. It should finish. The Appearing Commissioner, Kilolo Kijakazi, should both finish this apply or publicly decry it. In any other case, she is complicit in these acts of monetary torture and may resign. Right here’s the most recent story Terry Savage and I simply acquired.

At a private stage, each Social Safety recipient, particularly those that labored in non-covered employment or had been topic to the Earnings Take a look at, or acquired advantages on partner, mother or father, or ex partner’s file, ought to be certain that they aren’t being overpaid. My firm’s MaximizeMySocialSecurity software program may also help you determine in case you’re gathering the correct amount. And overpayment shouldn’t be the one mistake Social Safety is making. In addition they could also be underpaying you. Once more, the software program, which could be very cheap, may also help.

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My title is Terry. I’m 73 years outdated.

I retired in 2009 at age 60 after 35+ years of public college instructing and started receiving my full retirement pension from TRS. A number of of my retired instructor buddies urged me to go to a Social Safety workplace to see if I used to be eligible for any advantages primarily based on varied jobs I held earlier to instructing. So, at age 65 I went to the Social Safety workplace in Palos Hills Illinois and met with a consultant. I used to be advised that I used to be not entitled to full advantages since I used to be receiving a full academics pension from TRS, however would qualify for a diminished advantage of $404.00 per 30 days. I trusted she was the knowledgeable; she did all of the calculations. She assisted me in finishing the required paperwork and I began receiving this profit a number of months later. Annually the profit quantity was elevated in line with the Social Safety guidelines.

My spouse, Sandra, retired after 45 years within the Healthcare area on August 31, 2020. Till that point, my medical protection was by way of her group insurance coverage. Beginning in September 2020, my Medicare Half B cost was taken from my Social Safety profit and I acquired the rest.

All good till October, 2022 once we acquired a letter out of the blue from Social Safety Administration informing me that I owed them $24,436.60 as a result of they overpaid me. Outraged, we contacted our native Social Safety workplace in Woodridge and the nightmare continued to develop and get extra concerned and extra convoluted. Each telephone name resulted in a special story from “that is simply

simply
an error we’ll get corrected” to “you must pay this inside 30 days.” Repeatedly we requested for a proof of the overpayment however nobody might present such a solution. They had been as confused as we had been. On December 5, 2022 I filed a proper enchantment (hand delivered to the Woodridge workplace) asking not just for a proof however to maintain my advantages in tact whereas the enchantment was being researched. It’s outrageous that NO ONE might give us any data OR inform us what precipitated this occasion.

A observe up 30 days later with the Woodridge workplace mentioned the enchantment was nonetheless pending and advantages had been nonetheless intact. No advantages posted in my checking account in January. One other name to be taught the enchantment had not been reviewed but and there may be nothing they might do.

No advantages posted in February or March.

I wish to say that all through this entire ordeal we’d frequently obtain letters from Social Safety with complicated details about takebacks and/or funds coming subsequent month, or funds you’ll get in September, and many others. They had been loopy. My final name to Social Safety I used to be advised to disregard the letters….the knowledge in them was unsuitable.

I additionally wish to say that at NO level was I advised that my Medicare Half B cost was in danger. Actually, I used to be getting month-to-month payments from Medicare for my small Irma cost and paid them instantly. The Medicare.gov web site exhibits all my premiums updated and I verified that on the automated telephone system at Medicare. Sadly, the Woodridge workplace advised me yesterday that in truth my Half B funds haven’t been paid since January 1.

I’ve had two medical procedures in February and several other observe up physician visits. From all I can see on the Medicare web site, these had been lined and paid in full. Who is true?

To this point we now have acquired NO RESPONSE from my enchantment and the Woodridge workplace acknowledged yesterday they might “escalate the problem.” What sort of nonsense is that this! How dare the Social Safety workplace harass retired folks after working their whole lives in schooling and healthcare. We aren’t solely outraged however disenchanted in a system that we thought was primarily based on taking good care of our era. This entire expertise has had detrimental results on our lives each bodily and mentally and I urge and urge Social Safety to right “their” error and resolve this concern by backing off and returning to me the advantages I deserve and labored so exhausting for. My spouse and I labored exhausting to ascertain a cushty monetary retirement. Now’s the time to get pleasure from our lives and never be burdened with this disastrous and misguided monetary burden. Moreover, if the Social Safety Administration miscalculated my profit that’s their burden and never mine.