New Bill Sets 3-Year Time Limit on Social Security Clawbacks

Two representatives from Ohio, Republican Mike Carey and Democrat Emilia Sykes, have introduced legislation to prevent the Social Security Administration from reducing monthly payments from beneficiaries who received overpayments more than three years prior.

The bill, the Protecting Americans from Social Security Clawbacks Act, was introduced on Aug. 20.

The bill’s text states that “in any case in which the Commissioner finds that more than the correct amount of payment has been made to a person, recovery from the person may not be made” if the overpayment occurred more than three years before the date of the finding; and if the overpayment was a result of error on the part of the Social Security commissioner.

The three-year time limit does not apply, however, if the commissioner “determines that the person has ever committed fraud or similar fault with respect to the program,” the bill states.

“What we’re saying is listen, if you couldn’t get your act together and notify these people within a three-year window, then you’re going to have to waive that,” Carey said in a recent interview with Cox Media Group and KFF Health News.

“We had many of these constituents reach out to our office about these overpayments … These are people that have been playing by the rules,” Carey relayed. “They’ve been doing everything that they thought they were supposed to do.”