Summary

Creates a 10-year time limit that prevents the Social Security Administration from recovering or adjusting current and future Title II (Social Security retirement, survivors, and disability) and Title XVI (SSI) payments for overpayments that occurred 10 or more years before the agency finds the payment was incorrect. The text does not specify an effective date or transitional rules, leaving open whether the limit applies to past findings or only to future ones.

Key Points

• Establishes a statute-of-limitations-style 10-year bar on recovering Social Security overpayments for Title II and Title XVI when the overpayment occurred 10+ years before the SSA's finding.
• Prevents the Commissioner from reducing current or future benefits to recoup such old overpayments and bars federal recovery from the recipient.
• Applies to both Social Security Insurance (retirement, survivors, disability) and Supplemental Security Income recipients.
• Does not include an explicit effective date or transitional rules, creating uncertainty for prior overpayment determinations.
• Does not change eligibility or benefit calculation rules—only limits recovery of certain older overpayments.
• May reduce the amount the federal government recovers from overpaid benefits, with administrative and fiscal implications.
• Requires SSA to adjust recovery policies and systems to implement the 10-year cutoff at the time of the Commissioner’s finding.
• Protects long-ago recipients from bill-backs for old errors, which may especially affect seniors, disabled people, and low-income beneficiaries.

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