Recently President Donald Trump has made an announcement regarding two large and controversial policy changes in social security. The goal overall is to decrease the amount of waste and fraud occurring in the social security sector. While the total impact is still unsure, it’s safe to say that many will be impacted.
Major Changes Coming to Social Security
The Social Security Administration announced that it will start taking back full benefit checks from people who were overpaid. In other words, those that received too much aid from the administration will have to give some money back. Previously the agency would just take smaller amounts of money from each check going to people on aid. This means that those whom the government determines as not needing full benefits will receive significantly less. While this may harm those receiving the checks, the government will certainly save quite a bit of money. Social Security officials claim that this will help the government recover an additional $7 billion over the next 10 years.
The agency also announced that enrollees for social security can no longer change their direct deposit information over the phone. The process is now either online with two-factor authentication or an in person visit to a Social Security office. The main goal behind this change is to prevent fraud occurring below the governments radar.
While the government will save money, some are unhappy with the changes. Those receiving benefits and former officials worry that the new policy will ensure that some people can’t afford their current lifestyle. Others receiving benefits claim that the government made errors in the process, and now find themselves with tens of thousands of dollars in overpayments. Additionally, there are many seniors on aid from the government, many of whom lack technology skills to utilize the new online process.
Trump’s View on the New Process
Many individuals on Social Security fail to report changes in their life that changes the amount of benefits they receive, such as marriage or employment. This leads to many individuals receiving more or less than what they are supposed to. In this case, the government will withhold some of the money due to overpayments. In March 2024 the Biden administration lowered the maximum amount of the total amount of withheld money to just 10% of their next check. However, the Trump Administration is planning on withholding 100% of a persons benefits if they owe money due to overpayments by the government in the past.
Lee Dudek, commissioner of Social Security said “It is our duty to revise the overpayment repayment policy back to full withholding, as it was during the Obama administration and first Trump administration, to properly safeguard taxpayer funds.” However, while recepients of benefits are unhappy, some government officials are too.
Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott calls the problem “unacceptable” and a letter to the Social Security Administration. Former Social Security commissioner Martin O’Malley said the rule is “cruel-hearted and appears designed to inflict a lot of hardship and anguish on beneficiaries through no fault of their own.”
Trump also has plans to cut Social Security’s staffing. Critics also claim that Trump is purposely making the new application for benefits much harder.
Featured Image Credit: Markus Winkler; Pexels: Thank You!
