Should Disability Overpayments Be Non-dischargeable in Bankruptcy

Over the past few months, the Social Security Administration has released a number of proposals about “improving” the disability system. Most of these improvements are designed to save the agency money and to make it more difficult for SSDI and SSI claimants to win benefits.

Usually, Social Security will release details about proposed changes to the public and wait for a reaction from the public and from members of Congress. In cases where proposed changes generate a lot of negative publicity, SSA may quietly withdraw their proposals.

However, in other cases SSA will pursue a formal adoption of their desired changes. In these cases, they will post the proposed change in the Federal Register and ask for public comment. Occasionally they will change their proposal in response to comment but in many cases, unless Congress intervenes, the new regulations will go into force.

Recently, for example, SSA changed the grid rules to eliminate their consideration of a claimant’s inability to speak English as a factor in disability determinations. Therefore a disabled claimant’s inability to communicate in English with co-workers, supervisors or the general public no longer counts when evaluating whether that person would be able to sustain employment.

In my view, this change may be appropriate for a claimant in Miami or south Texas, but not so much in cities where there is not a large non-English speaking population. How employable would a 45 year old Spanish speaking unskilled laborer with back problems be in Minneapolis, or a 48 year old Ukranian speaking woman with a heart problem in Salt Lake City?

Recently, SSA has floated yet another change that would make life harder for disabled claimants. This proposal - which has not been formally proposed or posted for formal comment - would make Social Security disability and SSI overpayments non-dischargeable in bankruptcy.

I have several problems with this proposal. First, it targets disabled people who have no other source of income than Social Security. Almost none of them would have the funds to repay SSA so the only source of recovery would be to reduce the amount of monthly benefits. Most of my clients receive around $1,500 to $1,800 per month, which is barely enough to survive. Now SSA wants to withhold the full monthly benefit for these people for months or years?

Secondly, the overpayment is rarely the fault of the claimant. Most overpayments when a disabled claimant tries to return to work and inadvertently goes over his trial work period allotment. SSA may not notify the “overpaid” claimant that there is a problem for years, resulting in a debt of tens of thousands of dollars.

Social Security’s trial work period rules are convoluted and difficult to understand and it is easy for anyone to make a mistake in calculating income. And if a mistake (if SSA’s calculations are correct, which is not always the case) is not identified by SSA for three or four years, is it really fair to the affected worker.

An overpaid Social Security disability claimant is almost always less culpable than a debtor who incurs credit card or medical debt knowing that repayment is questionable. And the delays in notifying these claimants about an overpayment is SSA’s issue. So why would we want to ask financially strapped, disabled people to lose the one safety net they have?

Hopefully this proposal will be quietly withdrawn given the national economic turmoil caused by the coronavirus. But if this ill-conceived concept reappears, I encourage you to express your disapproval to your elected representatives.

What do you think? Should disability overpayments be dischargeable in bankruptcy or should the affected claimant be forced to repay the government?
#socialsecuritydisabilityoverpayment #bankruptcyreliefoverpaiddisabilitybenefits #ssdioverpayments

===============FREE SURVIVAL KIT====================
Don’t know where to begin? Download my free
“Secrets of Getting Approved” Survival Kit at
https://bit.ly/SSD-Survival-Kit
==============================================

==============FREE CASE EVALUATION=================
If you or a loved one would like a case evaluation for your
SSDI or SSI case, please contact me at
https://bit.ly/Contact-Jonathan
===============================================

=================CONTACT ME========================
Jonathan Ginsberg
Social Security Disability Attorney
Website: https://www.ssdAnswers.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GinsbergLaw/
Telephone: 800-890-2262
https://bit.ly/Contact-Jonathan
=================================================
***Click Below to SUBSCRIBE for More Videos***
https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=ginsbergssd