An Arizona woman has received a $34,000 repayment demand from the Social Security Administration following the death of her husband, a report said.
Bonnie Nelson has been struggling with an overpayment demand from the SSA to the tune of $34,048.40, 12 On Your Side reported. Her husband, Philip, had collected disability payments for issues relating to his back and heart, and the overpayments were made between January 2021 through August 2022, the outlet said.
The SSA has come under scrutiny in recent months following reports that it asked some of America's most vulnerable people to repay thousands of dollars in overpaid retirement and disability insurance benefits. According to the SSA's Office of Analytics, Review, and Oversight, in the 2022 fiscal year, the SSA made about $13.6 billion in improper payments. Of those, $11.1 billion were overpayments.
Nelson told 12 On Your Side: "I don't know where to go. I don't know what to do." She added that she was "scared to death" following the repayment demand.
"Where is their checks and balances system?" Nelson continued. "There isn't any. They should stop it before it gets started."
According to the report, the SSA said Nelson could request a waiver because of financial hardship, which she did. But since Philip's death, the agency has withheld the money she should have received as his survivor.
Nelson told the outlet that because the SSA stopped the payments, her brother had to pay her bills, as she had no money left. "I have lot rent to pay, I have car payments, insurance, just like everybody else," Nelson said. "But what am I supposed to do? Live on the streets?"
In a statement to Newsweek, a spokesperson for the SSA said: "Getting an overpayment notice can be unsettling and we work with people to navigate the process. We inform people about the fact and amount of the overpayment, their right to appeal, and the options to repay or, in some cases, have the debt waived.
"People have the right to appeal the overpayment decision or the amount. They can also ask Social Security to waive collection of the overpayment, if they believe it was not their fault and can't afford to pay it back. We do not pursue recoveries while an initial appeal or waiver is pending. We examine each waiver request to determine, among other factors, if the person caused the debt and their ability to repay. Even if they do not want to appeal or request a waiver, the notice says to contact us if the planned withholding would cause hardship."
The SSA has recently updated its policies regarding overpayments. The agency said it would no longer intercept 100 percent of a beneficiaries' monthly benefits if they did not respond to a repayment notice. Instead, it plans to implement a default withholding rate of 10 percent.
"We are no longer going to have that clawback cruelty of intercepting 100 percent of a payment if people do not respond to our notice," Martin O'Malley, the SSA's commissioner, told the Senate Committee on Aging on March 20.
Newsweek previously reported that Social Security recipients had been left in dismay after receiving letters asking them to repay vast amounts within 30 days. In some instances, recipients were asked to repay sums in excess of $80,000.
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