Is Social Security’s Rule Change Fair? - NYT

February 7, 2011, 2:12 PM
Is Social Security’s Rule Change Fair?
By TARA SIEGEL BERNARD

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Some Social Security recipients are upset about a new Social Security Administration policy, claiming that it is “changing its rules in the middle of the game.” As Bucks reported, the agency recently decided to curtail the ability of Social Security recipients to receive what amounted to an interest-free loan from the agency.

Under the old policy, people eligible for benefits could take them early, then change their mind and then withdraw their application for benefits — as long as they repaid the full amount of the benefits received. That allowed them to restart the clock, and reapply for higher benefits later.

While the old policy was intended to help people who took early retirement and then went back to work, the agency said it was increasingly promoted in the media and by some financial professionals as a way to get a “free loan” from the government for at least several years.

The agency’s new rule, which went into effect in December, now limits the time period during which beneficiaries can withdraw an application to within 12 months of the first month of entitlement. It also permits only one application withdrawal per lifetime. But since the rule went into effect right away, many people who were counting on paying the money back are out of luck — unless the administration decides to rewrite the rule.

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More: http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/is-social-securitys-rule-change-fair/

:kick:

and the goddamned money is not "ours" except in the fact that it comes out of the paychecks of current workers, never to be seen again, unless they can pull off the same intergenerational trick. Good luck with that by the time all of us baby boomers are trying to collect.