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Essay On Overpayment Policy

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Existing overpayment policy A beneficiary who receives overpaid benefits is primarily liable for repaying the overpayment if he or she benefitted from the money. Primary liability can apply to both adult and child beneficiaries or recipients. SSA generally collects these overpayments by withholding or reducing benefits for current beneficiaries and recipients. If we appoint a payee, the payee is personally liable for repayment if the payee used the incorrect payments for purposes other than the support and maintenance of the recipient. Effective December 4, 2008, a payee who receives payments on the beneficiary’s behalf after the death of the beneficiary is solely liable for repayment of the overpayment. When we discover an overpayment, we …show more content…

• The right to reconsideration of the overpayment determination • The right to request waiver of recovery • Language requesting full, immediate refund, unless we can withhold the overpayment from the next month's benefit. • Proposed adjustment if we do not receive the refund within 30 days • The availability of: o installment payments, when refund is requested and adjustment is not currently available; o cross-program recovery, when refund is requested and the person is receiving another SSA payment (e.g., Title XVI); and o a different rate of withholding, when full withholding is proposed. • The need to notify the field office (FO) promptly if reconsideration, waiver, a lesser rate of withholding, repayment by installments, or cross-program adjustment is requested The Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 requires us to use Treasury Offset Program (TOP) to recover delinquent debts when an individual is no longer receiving benefits from us. Public Law 110-246, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, eliminated the 10 Year Statute of Limitations for collection of debt by Administrative Offsets. We implemented TOP in 1992 (formerly TRO only) for Title II debts, and 1998 for Title XVI

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