SSA weighs axing payments to 170,000 beneficiaries

The move to cease making payments to people without Social Security numbers would imperil the benefits of thousands of immigrants’ children with disabilities.

A proposal to ban payments to people without Social Security numbers is circulating at the Social Security Administration, according to two employees. If implemented, the move could affect thousands of beneficiaries receiving retirement, disability and low-income benefits from the agency. 

There are several scenarios where people without SSNs accept benefits as the “representative payee” on behalf of eligible beneficiaries—including most disabled children, as well as elderly or disabled adults, said Kathleen Romig, the director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 

An SSA memo obtained by Government Executive notes that the agency currently can, at times, make someone a representative payee even if they don’t have an SSN. The payee, Romig noted, is not required to be eligible ...