Social Security tries to make Dad's summer as bad as last year's, and kind of ruin mine as well

[cimorene]

You probably remember that my mom is a giant flake one of whose habits is to send me completely incomprehensible emails from time to time. So when she sent me this the other day, I wasn't immediately hugely worried, because she's usually got something (or everything) confused:

Soc Security now wants all the money they gave us back.  It was ^0k.  10k of it we paid in taxes, I think-- actually, daddy thinks.  I think it was 20K.  So when we refile we can get it back immediatement, and immediately pay that part.

But then my Dad emailed me to ask was it true that my residence permit now being based upon family status as the common-law spouse of my better half, I can stay in the country without €6000 from them next fall, because

Social Security says we have to repay a lot of money that they paid us in the last two years.  We are going to probably have to do this in very large monthly installments...

But he didn't find it necessary, apparently, to explain anything about what had actually happened, or what was actually wrong or GOING to happen. I'm pretty sure that, far from trying to spare my virgin ears, it somehow didn't seem pertinent or necessary or interesting to him, or something. That was when I started to freak out and asked what the hell was going on.

What was going on was, in chronological order, this:

1. My dad is quadriplegic due to a spinal cord injury incurred while on the job, and was getting some disability money from SS. 


2. SS sent him something two years ago to indicate he no longer qualified for benefits (why? I don't know) and a form for Dad to fill out to stop them. He filled it out correctly and sent it back. 


3. The payments didn't stop.


4. Dad called them and pointed out that the payments were supposed to stop. They brushed aside his clear and incontrovertible point that he no longer qualified and that he had clearly indicated as much and that this was all at their instigation. They told him that if the benefits are supposed to stop, they will stop, and don't worry about it (or bother us). 


5. Two years later (like, now), they finally decide to stop them... retroactively. And demand back two years' worth of them. 


6. Apparently this is legal so long as the benefitee won't have to starve to death or whatever.

...

What the fuck.

Reaction paragraph deleted due to me still being wordless with rage, worry, etc.

(Note: this also means I can't go home this fall, almost certainly.)

Comments

[meimi.livejournal.com]

Yep. That sounds about right as far as Social Security goes. I can't ever really quite express my rage whenever I hear about their continual incompetence. You know, they're supposed to help people. I haven't really ever heard about them actually, you know, helping people. In fact, all I ever hear about is how the ruin people's lives. Funny that.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

Well, statistically they have to help some people at least a little, right, with the money they give them, even though with cutbacks it's probably safe to say that in no case is it actually enough money for them...

[kessie.livejournal.com]

What? Just. What the hell?

[cimness.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't know. I'm still having a "Wait, you're seriously serious?" problem with the whole thing in addition to the worrying...

[almostnever.livejournal.com]

That's so fucked! Maybe they could get a lawyer and contest the dequalification: Your dad tried to do the right thing and go along with the payments stopping-- now that they've showed their determination to screw him, he might as well try to keep the money coming.

I'm really sorry. The government has gotten so incompetent and evil under Bush.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

I think they'd be happy not being asked to pay it back. It's kind of ridiculous when informing them unequivocally twice that you don't qualify for their money isn't enough. Apparently he should have opened another bank account or something and just... held it in safekeeping for them until they were ready to notice reality.

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

WHAT? That's horrendous. For fuck's sake! My God, I hope there's something your parents can do about this stupid bureaucratic cock-up.

[anatsuno.livejournal.com]

Oh god, that's terrible!

[tazical.livejournal.com]

Warning: long reply!

I know it's the UK and therefore the laws might be different but one of my friends had the exact same thing with child benefit payments. They were told they owed a lot of money which they really couldn't repay and argued that it would affect the quality of their lives to repay what was SS's mistake. It didn't even get near the courts before SS did a sudden U-Turn and told them they didn't have to repay it.

I also had an issue after my dad died three years ago when SS decided we owed them £1000 that they had paid in mistake after they had said dad wasn't eligible for the money while he was in hospital two years previously. I wrote them a polite but firm letter stating all the cock-ups they had made and didn't hear anything either way for over six months, when I suddenly received a cheque for the vast sum of £25, no explanation, no apology, no more demands for repayment.

The general consensus speaking to others is that the people who send out these demands are acting on notifications from automated computer systems without individual consideration (my intial demand from SS, for example, had someone else's name on the generic Word template.) If you appeal to them you'll get an individual review which may or may not work in your favour but the case is often dropped if it has been a genuine mistake by SS as the courts tend to side with the wronged and more vulnerable party. Plus SS don't tend to be too keen on amassing thousands in court fees and man-hours. Sometimes it's simply cheaper to just drop the whole thing.

Either way it's definitely worth writing a letter of appeal to SS, and definiely worth contacting the department first (by email, if you don't want to stress your parents) to find out the proper complaint procedure and who to contact. Definitely get the name of a complaints manager who has the authority to deal with the issue or else you'll be appealing to the temp receptionist who probably sent out the thing in the first place and only cares about her next coffee break (I say this as a temp receptionist who deals with people who think I can change the world for them).

If you decide to do that then good luck!

[cimness.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'll pass along your advice, although I can't hold out a huge amount of hope that the American and British courts regard it in the same way. I'm told that in Australia the situation is the same is in America, too.

[buddleia.livejournal.com]

Just to echo what tazical said, I do know of people who contested in similar situations - again, in the UK, but the fact that your dad did call and was given wrong information should count for a lot, legally.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

That's a good point! I'll ask my parents if they've tried to contest or contact a lawyer or something. It seems like they've known about it for a while, so I'd at least hope they already had, but it can't hurt to check. Thanks for the advice.

[hollsh.livejournal.com]

That is so fucking...gah, I can't imagine the stress...:(

I'm sorry.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

Wait. What?

[norah.livejournal.com]

Oh, my God. And it's legal?! There's no way to, I don't know, reconstruct a paper trail and fight it?

I'm so sorry.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

I wonder if they have a paper trail. He should, but he tends to have a harder time with that now that he has to rely on the assistance of hired medical attendants who are sometimes not very reliable to be his hands. I'm asking them if they've tried to contest it or discuss it with a lawyer and that sort of thing, but at the same time, if they've known about it for a while it's hard to believe they wouldn't have already tried that. I'm just so horrified and flabbergasted by this kind of colossal bad luck. Insult after insult just seem completely unavoidable after the initial disaster of injury.

[norah.livejournal.com]

Insult after insult just seem completely unavoidable after the initial disaster of injury.

God, isn't that just one of the truest things I have ever read about disability.

Good luck to everyone in your family, and I'm thinking of you all.

[southpaw526.livejournal.com]

...

Wait.

WHAT THE HELL?

[cimness.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I would have believed that this kind of thing happened before, it just seems that ridiculous.