(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a breaking news story that was announced as this week’s Blog articles were being prepared. We’ll watch for further developments in the coming days.)
In yet another high-profile policy reversal, the Social Security Administration has announced an abrupt change in their so-called “clawback policy.”
We first brought you this story on the Blog last month. The news then was that Trump Administration officials were going to begin withholding up to 100 percent of benefits from anyone who had received Social Security overpayments, even if the beneficiary was not responsible for the error. This marked a sharp reversal from a Biden-era policy that had limited so-called “clawbacks” of overpaid amounts to no more than 10 percent of benefits each month.
Now the SSA is softening its stance, according to this article published by the Seattle Times. The author of the report is David Hilzenrath of KFF Health News.
Hilzenrath writes, “The Social Security Administration is backing off a plan it announced in March to withhold 100 percent of many beneficiaries’ monthly payments to claw back money the government had allegedly overpaid them. Instead, the agency will default to withholding 50 percent of old-age, survivors, and disability insurance benefits, the agency said in an ‘emergency message’ to staff dated April 25.”
As noted above, a policy announced a year ago under Biden Administration had capped the clawbacks at 10 percent. Martin O’Malley, who headed the SSA under Biden, told KFF Health News that the 100 percent clawback policy announced last month was “cruelhearted.”
At 50 percent, O’Malley added, “It’s half as cruel, but it’s still cruel.”
As noted, we’ll keep an eye on this late-breaking story for further developments.
(originally reported at www.seattletimes.com)