Social Security

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Homeless Woman, 80, Finally Gets $100K Owed to Her by US

Wander Witter tried to prove her case for years

(Newser) - For years Wanda Witter, an 80-year-old retired machinist wandered the streets of Washington, DC, with three suitcases crammed full of Social Security paperwork that she insisted proved the government owed her a lot of money. People called her crazy and a hoarder, especially because she slept in shelters or on...

Army Making Rare Change to Its Iconic Dog Tags

It's the first alteration to the tags in 40 years

(Newser) - For soldiers, a dog tag "individualizes the human being who wears it, despite his or her role as a small part of a huge and faceless organization," CNN quotes the Library of Congress as saying. But few citizens probably realize the danger dogs tags can put soldiers in....

If You Get Social Security, Bad News, Again

There's no benefit increase for 2016

(Newser) - The government says there will be no benefit increase next year for millions of Social Security recipients, disabled veterans, and federal retirees. It's just the third time in 40 years that payments will remain flat, with all three times occurring since 2010. And there's more bad news: The...

11M People Could Have a Social Security Problem Next Year

Unless Congress acts, disability benefits will be cut 19%

(Newser) - Our annual report on the state of Social Security and Medicare was issued yesterday, and from a 30,000-foot view, the AP sees Social Security's financial health as having grown no worse in the past year. In fact, the program's retirement trust fund is projected to be able...

New Obama Gun-Control Plan Surprises NRA

Policy could put 4.7M more Americans in background-check system

(Newser) - A new plan to issue background checks on millions of potential gun-buyers has caught the NRA off guard, the Los Angeles Times reports. Responding to an executive order from President Obama, the Social Security Administration is devising a policy that could add millions of its beneficiaries to the National Instant...

SCOTUS Ruling Is Financial Win for Gay Couples, Too

It all has to do with Social Security benefits

(Newser) - Not only does today's Supreme Court ruling mean gay couples nationwide can marry—it also means they can add as much as $250,000 or more to their lifetime Social Security benefits, experts tell USA Today . That's because homosexual married couples can now take advantage of the same...

We Paid Suspected Nazis $20M in Social Security
 We Paid Suspected Nazis $20M in Social Security 
NEW REPORT
May 31, 2015 1:00 PM CDT

We Paid Suspected Nazis $20M in Social Security

US made payments for decades to 133 linked to Third Reich

(Newser) - The United States Social Security Administration paid out $20.2 million to 133 suspected Nazis over the course of decades—a pattern that ended only in January with the implementation of the No Social Security for Nazis Act —according to a new inspector general's report obtained by the...

Raising Retirement Age Hurts the Working Class

But 'political elites' in white-collar jobs think nothing of it: Ezra Klein

(Newser) - When it comes to shoring up Social Security, "establishment Washington" thinks a key part of the solution is a no-brainer: raise the retirement age, writes Ezra Klein at Vox . After all, goes the argument, Americans are living longer, so it's only logical to push it back to age...

Social Security Thinks 6.5M Americans Are Age 112

Lack of death records leaves all those cards vulnerable to fraud

(Newser) - Americans are getting older, but not this old: Social Security records show that 6.5 million people in the US have reached the ripe old age of 112. Common sense suggests otherwise—as of last fall, there were only 42 people known to be that old in the entire world....

House Unanimous at Last: No Social Security for Nazis

Moves to close loophole that let dozens collect millions after they left US

(Newser) - Suspected Nazi war criminals would be blocked from receiving Social Security benefits under a bill unanimously approved yesterday by the House, shutting a loophole that allowed suspected Nazis to be paid millions of dollars. Under the bill, benefits would be terminated for Nazi suspects who have lost their American citizenship....

We Live Way Longer Than We Expect
 We Live Way Longer 
 Than We Expect 
in case you missed it
Nov 16, 2014 6:58 AM CST

We Live Way Longer Than We Expect

And that could be bad news post-retirement: study

(Newser) - How long do you think you'll live? New research suggests you can tack a few more years on to whatever number you came up with. In 1992, University of Michigan researchers asked 26,000 Americans between the ages of 51 and 61 if they thought they would make it...

Using Social Security Numbers as ID Is a Bad Idea

They're too easy to steal

(Newser) - Chances are, your Social Security number is out there in wide circulation—everyone from the cable company to the bank to the doctor seems to require it. But as CNN reports, these numbers are hardly secure, with 6.5 million stolen this year alone. "This raises an important question,...

Social Security Checks Will Be 1.7% Bigger Next Year

That's the 5th time in 6 years the increase is less than 2%

(Newser) - Millions of older Americans who rely on federal benefits will get a 1.7% increase in their monthly payments next year, the government announced today. That's the fifth time in six years the increase will be less than 2%. The increase amounts to about $20 a month for the...

US Paid Suspected Nazis Millions in Social Security

Benefits continue after they voluntarily leave US

(Newser) - As an incentive to get them off American soil, Nazi war criminals and suspects were in many cases allowed to keep their Social Security benefits. That left dozens of them—at least 38 of 66 suspects since 1979—to receive millions in US taxpayer dollars over the years, the AP...

Student Debt Driving Elderly Into Poverty

Number with benefits cut to repay loans soars

(Newser) - A soaring number of Americans are facing an old age of poverty because they are still saddled with student debt, according to a Government Accountability Office report released yesterday. The government has the power to slash Social Security or disability benefits to pay off federal student loans, and the number...

Govt. to Family: 'Dead' Dad Actually Alive, So Pay Up

Donald Miller disappeared in 1980s, was declared dead, returned last year

(Newser) - Though very much alive, Donald Miller Jr. is still legally a dead man ... and yet now his daughters are being hit up for $47,000 in Social Security benefits they received as teens because of his death, the AP reports. It all started when Miller, a jobless alcoholic at the...

Medicare Fund to Last Longer Than Previously Thought

Medicare gets a 4-year boost—but disability benefits are disappearing more quickly

(Newser) - If you’ve been nervously eyeing your Social Security and Medicare updates, wondering if there will be anything left or whether a viable health program will exist by the time you punch your final timecard, Uncle Sam has (some) good news: Benefits funds for Medicare are expected to last for...

Feds Say They'll Stop Seizing Some Tax Refunds

Social Security puts halt on collecting more than decade-old debts

(Newser) - No longer will a single sentence make tax day even more miserable for hundreds of thousands of Americans—for now, at least. Late last week, the Washington Post reported on a recent Treasury Department practice made possible by a single sentence lurking in the 2008 farm bill: seizing tax refunds...

Feds Swiping Tax Refunds to Pay Parents&#39; Debts
Feds Swiping Tax Refunds
to Pay Parents' Debts
in case you missed it
Apr 13, 2014 1:11 PM CDT

Feds Swiping Tax Refunds to Pay Parents' Debts

Many are told there aren't even records proving the debt exists

(Newser) - The Treasury Department has been seizing tax refunds or demanding payment from hundreds of thousands of Americans on some very old debts—some of which aren't exactly theirs in the first place. Many taxpayers are being forced to repay debts their parents allegedly racked up, the Washington Post reports....

Obama Snubs GOP, Ditches Social Security Cuts

Olive branch to Boehner is rescinded

(Newser) - President Obama is done playing nice with the budget. The White House will be ditching a proposal to curtail Social Security cost-of-living increases, along with other policies that he included last year in an attempt to reach out to Republicans, the Wall Street Journal reports. "This year, the administration...

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