Fairness for Seniors and People with Disabilities During COVID–19 Act of 2020
Latest action · Oct 21, 2020 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedOct 21, 2020
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Fairness for Seniors and People with Disabilities During COVID-19 Act of 2020
This bill restricts the recovery by the Social Security Administration (SSA) of certain overpayments of benefits made between March 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020. The bill also specifies that an individual who received Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or similar payments from a state, for any month during that period shall not be deemed ineligible for Medicaid coverage for that month on the basis that the individual is later determined to be ineligible for SSI or similar payments.
Specifically, the SSA shall not recover any overpayments of Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance benefits, SSI benefits, or benefits for certain World War II veterans made during this period, unless the overpayments resulted from fraud or the misuse of benefits by a representative payee. For actions underway to recover overpayments, including those initiated before March 2020, the SSA must also notify individuals of their opportunity to request a reduction or suspension of adjustments to their benefits or a suspension of certain installment payments during the specified period. Additionally, the SSA must report on the time frame for resuming overpayment processing and collection activities.
Beginning in March 2020, the SSA has operated under modified work processes in response to the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2020) emergency, including the suspension of certain procedures for identifying changes to eligibility status and adjusting benefits to account for them. However, in August 2020, the SSA issued an interim final rule concerning the resumption of these procedures, which included a simplified waiver process for beneficiaries who incurred an overpayment between March 1, 2020, and September 30, 2020.
Cosponsors 2
Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Oct 21, 2020.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-PA | Robert P. Casey Jr. | Original | Oct 21, 2020 |
| D-OR | Ron Wyden | Original | Oct 21, 2020 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Oct 21, 2020Introduced in Senate
- Oct 21, 2020Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 7830 | Fairness for Seniors and People with Disabilities During COVID-19 Act of 2020 | Related bill | Jul 29, 2020 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Social Welfare.
- Cardiovascular and respiratory health
- Congressional oversight
- Debt collection
- Disability assistance
- Emergency medical services and trauma care
- Infectious and parasitic diseases
- Medicaid
- Poverty and welfare assistance
- Social security and elderly assistance
- Social Welfare
- Veterans' pensions and compensation
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Oct 21, 2020Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.