An Example Why It’s Easy To Get Frustrated With Social Security

There is no doubting that Social Security provides some great programs and resources for retirees, the disabled and the poor, but anyone who has gone through a Social Security disability case knows how easy it is to get frustrated with the government agency. This blog is not to deflect any of the frustration, but more to pile on with more frustration. Courtesy of another blog that broached the subject, here are some of Social Security’s more asinine rules. And yes, these are actually Social Security’s rules that can be found in its Program Operations Manual Series (POMS).

  • Cash benefits for the disabled workers end the month before the month you die. So apparently Social Security doesn’t believe a disabled person is entitled to keep money a month before they die?
  • Even if (Social Security) causes an overpayment (paying a beneficiary more money than they deserve) the person receiving more money than they deserve has to show they are without fault.

Social Security makes a mistake by paying someone too much money and the person who had nothing to do with receiving more money than they deserved has to prove their innocence.

  • Social Security may make a “new” initial determination on a claim whenever a change occurs in the factual situation despite how much time elapses from the date of that change.

How in the world can Social Security make a “new” initial determination? An initial (meaning occurring at the beginning) can’t be made more than once.

  • Social Security representatives are instructed to not attempt to explain the rationale for any particular operation guideline, nor go into any great detail about them.

This clearly means don’t ask any questions about these rules because we can’t explain them anyway.

To discover some more of Social Security’s most ridiculous rules click here.