Lawmakers and policy experts have proposed several ideas to change Social Security so that fewer Americans are at risk of losing their benefits.
Social Security Administration guidelines stipulate that Americans on Supplemental Security Income may lose their financial and health benefits—and could receive an overpayment notice—if their asset or income size exceeds a certain level.
So while Americans who have disabilities and qualify for SSI may want to enter or reenter the workforce, they may be afraid to do so because of the possible ramifications.
“It punishes people for working,” Senator Elizabeth Warren said of the current rules during a Senate hearing Tuesday. “It punishes for savings.”
During the Senate Finance Committee hearing, federal and state officials recommended several options that could improve the rules around Social Security Disability Insurance and help prevent Americans from being kicked off their benefits when they decide to work or invest in a savings account.
The SSI has strict rules for beneficiaries’ income. Single recipients must earn less than $1,913 a month, while married couples cannot bring in more than $2,827.
For assets, the limit is less than $2,000 for individuals and $3,000 for married couples.
Susan Wilschke, an associate commissioner at the SSA’s Office of Retirement and Disability Policy, said keeping Americans aware of the benefit requirements can be a difficult task.
While the office provides benefits counseling, she said they’ve been dealing with “very limited funding,” which was originally set in 1999.
“We need sufficient funding and staffing,” Wilschke said during the hearing Tuesday.
If the SSA received a higher budget for that type of counseling, fewer Americans may lose their benefits after unknowingly violating the income or asset constraints.
Other lawmakers and policy experts suggested changing the rules for income and assets entirely.
Senator Bob Casey previously proposed and passed the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act in 2014, which allowed those living with disabilities to save and invest through tax-free accounts without losing access to Medicaid or Social Security benefits.
Casey said 170,000 of about 4 million SSI recipients have opened an ABLE account, which allows them to save up to $18,000 per year without affecting the asset-limit requirement.
“For years, people with disabilities were barred from saving for the future, meaning they couldn’t save for a home, purchase needed assistive technology, or save for an accessible car,” Casey said previously in a statement. “I worked to create the ABLE program to knock down those barriers, and ever since I’ve been working across the aisle to make sure the program is as effective as it can be.”
But spreading awareness about the ABLE program and reducing complexities about the process remains challenging.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Senator Sherrod Brown suggested increasing the asset limit with a bill, adding that he’d heard stories of employees refusing company-offered 401(k) plans out of fear that they would violate the asset limits.
According to Wilschke, having too much money in assets is the biggest cause of overpayments.
Overpayment notices are often sent years later, with requests for tens of thousands of dollars to be returned to the SSA after the agency made a mistake in its benefits calculations.
Another possible change to SSI is updating the jobs data that the SSA uses in its definition of what qualifies as a disability that would prevent work.
These issues of bureaucracy are what Senator Ron Wyden, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said he hoped to solve after the hearing.
“Despite all the good intentions, I’m walking out of here saying that’s still what we got to change,” Wyden said. “It’s time to do it.”
