Gallego Stands Up for Arizona Seniors, Calls for More Clarity on Social Security Overpayment Process
WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ-03) sent a letter to the Social Security Administration (SSA) calling for more clarity on SSA’s overpayment claw-back waiver process and how it could affect Arizona’s 1.4 million Social Security recipients.
As Rep. Gallego explains in the letter, “Regardless of the cause of the overpayment, when SSA becomes aware of a potential overpayment issue they alert the recipient of the error and how much the recipient owes back to SSA. Many of these overpayment notices come as a complete surprise to SSA beneficiaries, leaving them confused, shocked, and scared that they cannot pay what SSA says they owe. And, because of an indefinite ‘look-back period’, SSA can collect funds from a recipient for an error going back decades, resulting in collection notices totaling tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Gallego continues, “SSA allows for exceptions to overpayment claw-backs when it is found to be ‘against equity and good conscience.’ However, to a recipient, the process for determining if they qualify under this definition can seem arbitrary – to every Social Security recipient on a fixed-income, major financial disruptions can cause severe impacts to their quality of life and well-being.”
To gain more clarity on how the current overpayment claw-back process affects Arizona’s 1.4 million Social Security recipients, Rep. Gallego requested information from SSA on the frequency of overpayments, the process for determining ‘equity and good conscience’ for exemptions, and how often exemptions are made.