Aloha from Kauai, Hawaii

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone! As I indicated in my last post, some warmth was in the plans for my next travel destination. I’m happy to be checking in with you from paradise – Kauai, Hawaii. Even more exciting, my sister Quimby was able to join me for part of this trip and experience her first surf lesson – not bad for a beginner – keep up the good work Sis. We look forward to your reports on what’s happening in Washington next year. Here’s a question I received recently.

Dear Ben,

I receive both regular social security disability (SSDI) benefits and SSI disability payments. Earlier this year I was overpaid the regular social security benefits, and I just agreed to have $50 a month taken out of my SSDI benefit to repay the money I owe.

I know that SSA counts the gross amount of my SSDI benefit against my SSI payment, so I was wondering how much will SSA use in figuring my SSI payment now: the amount I actually get after the $50 repayment is taken out, or the full benefit amount I normally received before I started repaying the overpayment?

Jesse
Seneca WI

Dear Jesse,

The full amount of any Title II (regular social security) benefit before any deductions normally counts as unearned income in computing a monthly SSI payment. However, an exception applies when the Title II overpayment occurred while the person was receiving SSI and when the overpaid amount was included in the countable unearned income during that time. In such a case, SSA will count just the amount of the Title II payment after overpayment withholding and not the full, regular amount. This is called the “double counting” exception because SSA cannot count your Title II against your SSI twice.

It looks like this exception applies to your case, that the overpayment occurred while you were receiving SSI and the overpaid money was already taken into account when SSA computed your SSI earlier. So while you’re repaying the overpaid amount, SSA will use the lower SSDI amount you actually receive in figuring your SSI payment.

Ben

References: POMS SI 00830.110B2 | SI 00830.115 | SI 00830.210

Quimby's surfing lesson