Category: Benefits & Retirement
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SSI auditors found 54 of 208 recipients with an unreported vehicle, and eight of them were over the resource limit
Auditors at the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General found that 54 of 208 Supplemental Security Income recipients they reviewed owned a vehicle they had not reported. Eight of those 54 were over the resource limit, which made them ineligible for $40,474 in SSI payments. The findings are in a September 15, 2026…
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Social Security wants the remittance ID in the account-number field of a bank repayment
Social Security is telling people who repay an overpayment through their bank to put the Remittance ID in the account-number field. In the agency’s instructions, the payee is “Social Security Administration,” and the Remittance ID goes where a bill-pay form asks for an account number. The agency announced the change in a July 14, 2026…
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A widow can claim a survivor benefit at 62 and let her own grow
Social Security lets a widow start her survivor benefit at 62 and leave her own retirement benefit alone to grow. The agency’s claiming planner prints exactly that example: a woman who starts only her survivor benefit this year and lets her retirement benefit increase until age 70. At 70, she switches to the larger retirement…
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Paying a full share of rent and utilities protects an SSI check completely
Social Security says an SSI recipient who shares a home and pays a full share of the household bills sees no cut in the monthly check. The rule sits in the agency’s provisions on in-kind support and maintenance, the label for housing help that someone else provides. When the share falls short, the payment can…
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SSI pays nothing for a month that opens with countable resources above the limit
Supplemental Security Income pays nothing for a month in which a person’s countable resources are above the limit when the month begins. Social Security’s rules put the test on the first day, so a balance that drops later in the month does not bring that month’s check back. The limit is $2,000 for an individual…
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Social Security applies deemed filing at every age from 62 to people who turned 62 on or after January 2, 2016, while an older group is bound by it only until full retirement age
Social Security’s deemed filing rule decides whether a person can start one benefit and let another keep growing. For anyone who turned 62 on or after January 2, 2016, the answer is no: deemed filing applies from age 62 and extends to full retirement age and beyond. People who turned 62 before that date face…
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Social Security trims a long-delayed retroactive payment when SSI already covered those same months, an offset that catches winning claimants out
Winning a Social Security disability or retirement claim after a long wait can end with a back-pay check that is smaller than expected. The reason is a rule called the windfall offset. When Supplemental Security Income already paid a person for the same months, Social Security reduces the retroactive payment by the SSI that would…
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A medical stay of 90 days or less may let an SSI recipient keep the regular check instead of dropping to the facility rate, the agency says
A short hospital or rehab stay does not have to cut an SSI check to almost nothing. Social Security says a person who will be in a medical institution for 90 days or less may be able to receive the regular SSI benefit. Without that exception, a long stay paid mostly by Medicaid drops the…
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Renewals for adults on Medicaid expansion move from yearly to every six months for renewals scheduled on or after January 1, 2027, and a new application reaches back only one month
Medicaid is moving adults in the expansion group from yearly renewals to renewals every six months. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says the change applies beginning with renewals scheduled on or after January 1, 2027. A second change in the same law limits how far back coverage can reach for a new application…
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Cash or a gift card for groceries counts as income against an SSI check, even though the food itself stopped counting as in-kind support in September 2024
A relative who hands over groceries and a relative who hands over a grocery gift card are treated differently by Supplemental Security Income. Social Security says food that someone else provides no longer reduces an SSI check, but cash or a gift card given to pay for food is still counted as income. The food…