Wyden, colleagues press SSA to restore SSI benefits to beneficiaries kicked off due to stimulus checks

WASHINGTON (KTVZ) – Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Bob Casey, D-Pa., urged the Social Security Administration to provide additional information on the scope and magnitude of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries who had their benefits suspended and were assessed an overpayment due to receiving Economic Impact Payments (EIPs).

 “We are deeply concerned that [SSI] beneficiaries are receiving overpayment notices in error, because SSA is not following its own determination to exclude EIPs [stimulus checks] from countable resources. As you know, SSI benefits, while modest, have a substantial impact in the lives of the people who rely on them. Benefit suspensions and overpayment notices—regardless of the cause—can have a profound negative impact in their lives. Further, losing SSI eligibility risks a lengthy bureaucratic process to restore eligibility and also risks beneficiaries’ access to Medicaid coverage,” the senators wrote to SSA Acting Commissioner Dr. Kilolo Kijakazi.

The Economic Impact Payments provided critical financial relief for millions of Americans  during the Covid-19 pandemic so they could pay their rent or mortgage, purchase groceries, cover utilities and other essential expenses. 

Between April 2020 and July 2021, these payments were disregarded as countable resources for 12 months for purposes of SSI eligibility. In August 2021, SSA announced that  EIPs would not be counted toward eligibility and payment amount for SSI purposes indefinitely. However, SSA suspended benefits and assessed overpayments to individuals receiving SSI benefits because of the stimulus payments.

Senator Wyden previously raised this concern with SSA in two separate hearings in 2021, and the agency responded stating they had updated its policy guidance for SSA staff.  However, recent reporting has shown that SSI beneficiaries continue to receive overpayment notices because of the EIPs. 

To understand the scope and magnitude of beneficiaries affected, and the actions SSA has taken to resolve such suspensions and overpayments, the senators asked the SSA Acting Commissioner to provide the following information:

1. The number of individuals who had their benefits reduced or suspended because of the EIPs during the following periods: 

a. March 2020 to July 2021; 

b. August 2021 to December 2022; and 

c. January 2023 to September 2023.

2. Of those individuals identified in Question 1:

a. The number of individuals whose benefits were reinstated without an appeals hearing.

b. The number of individuals whose benefits were reinstated due to an appeals hearing.

c. The number of individuals whose appeals are pending.

d. The number of individuals who appeals were denied.

3. A list of the agency’s past and ongoing actions to address people who received overpayment notices resulting from EIPs?

4. The number of claimants who were denied SSI benefits because of the EIPs.

5. Whether SSA has required each beneficiary impacted to file an appeal. 

The text of the letter is here.