A cross-party group of lawmakers in Washington is pushing a new Social Security Overpayment Relief Act that would bar the US government from clawing back most benefit overpayments that are more than 10 years old, a move that could reshape how the Social Security Administration (SSA) treats millions of retirees and disabled Americans.
The Social Security overpayment controversy has been bubbling for years, but it has intensified as more stories emerge of pensioners suddenly receiving letters demanding tens of thousands of dollars, sometimes even six-figure sums, for alleged overpayments made decades earlier. Under current rules, the SSA can pursue those debts almost indefinitely and, in many cases, withhold a large share of a person's monthly cheque to get its money back.
