It would seem that Social Security has no remorse

Melissa Devillier's fourteen year old son died in a farming accident last july in Beaumont ,Texas (pronounced dead at 2:20 pm july 31st)

Melissa knew that the boys social security benefits(from his dads death in 1992) would be in terminated,but the government was startlingly swift to act. On aug eleventh , officials told the mother that since the boy had not lived out the entire month of july , he didnt qualify for july benefits, and federal law required her to pay back the 1025.00 dollars for the july advance she had already received!

My comments:

It would seem the government needs to realize that this boy had to live the entire month before he died and had to have living expenses for that month for him and his family ......
I consider this a travesty and an injustice to that family and the government should have at least pro-rated the return fee for that month making it about thirty three dollars and six cents due back to said agency.

Taken from the creative loafing
volume eighteen #eight

The more I read of the Government and its 'servants' the more I cringe. This is just inhuman. She has just lost her son and to heap more hurt upon her at this time is just sick. Do these people have hearts or have they been replaced by pieces of stone ?

Originally posted by Midnight Raven
The more I read of the Government and its 'servants' the more I cringe. This is just inhuman. She has just lost her son and to heap more hurt upon her at this time is just sick. Do these people have hearts or have they been replaced by pieces of stone ?

I totally agree.

The answer is, they do NOT have hearts. They have been programmed and are now, in effect, animated drones. Goddess help them.

Sometimes I am seriously ashamed to admit that I'm an American...the kinds of soulless things we do. Unreal.

Melissa knew that the boys social security benefits(from his dads death in 1992) would be in terminated,but the government was startlingly swift to act. On aug eleventh , officials told the mother that since the boy had not lived out the entire month of july , he didnt qualify for july benefits, and federal law required her to pay back the 1025.00 dollars for the july advance she had already received!

It doesn't make any difference the day, the hour, government benefits for pension, social security, ssi, etc must be returned to the government upon death. That's the way the law is written. No matter how harsh or cruel that is, every family that was receiving some benefit has had to pay it back.

That happened when my parents dies, grandparent, etc. You don't get to keep the last months payment.
In the future, American, die only on the first of the month at 12:01 am.

Kayem dont be ashamed to be american, be ashamed that the people you elect are so heartless and cold. Its a matter of hours and this poor lady has to pay all this back, whilst trying to cope with the loss of her son... but i guess stories like this must pop up all over the world though so i guess its a bit harsh to say the US gov are monsters (which they are)... i cant believe i'm kinda sorta defending the US gov. I must be sick

Do you really want my opinion ?
Never mind, I'll give it anyway.

What a bunch of cold, heartless, rule-obsessed jobsworth bastards these SS nazis are.

Did I just say 'SS nazis' ? ... actually that was a slip of the tongue (or keyboard) - maybe its a Freudian one, feck knows its true enough. Bastards.

I agree with you all, this really stinks and this is the sort of government that some of you want to have control of everything. They'll hold someone like this to the letter of the law only to let an embezzling beaurocrat off on a technicality. Remember Mark Rich? Yeah, he got aquited of the crime before he was even tried and had never surrendered to authorities. Now, I here he was somehow involved with Saddam in the oil sham they had going.

Hey, get off this poor families back. Go hunt down a real criminal or just take a look in a mirror.

This is repugnant. Not republican, or democrat, but the true definition of repugnant. It has nothing to do with the current or past administrations. Just a bureacratic repugnancy.

If the author of this thread gives me a link to the article, I will personally contact the relevant elected officials to see if I can do anything to right this injustice. Maybe I can't change the system, but my experience is that elected officials tend to try to do the right thing in matters such as these. Elected being the operative word here.

Originally posted by jsobecky
This is repugnant. Not republican, or democrat, but the true definition of repugnant. It has nothing to do with the current or past administrations. Just a bureacratic repugnancy.

If the author of this thread gives me a link to the article, I will personally contact the relevant elected officials to see if I can do anything to right this injustice. Maybe I can't change the system, but my experience is that elected officials tend to try to do the right thing in matters such as these. Elected being the operative word here.

i would give you a link but it wouldnt put you in touch with the morons who made this policy so it wouldnt do any good ....my suggestion would be to log a complaint directly with the social security office and tell them of your feelings and your logic to the affect that this policy is completely unjust.
Thank you....
its my personal pet peeve to show some of the minor injustices that happent to people ....because its theese small things that let them get away with the big things....its kinda like there testing ground to see how much they can get away with.....

Originally posted by watcheroftheskies

Originally posted by jsobecky

If the author of this thread gives me a link to the article, I will personally contact the relevant elected officials to see if I can do anything to right this injustice. Maybe I can't change the system, but my experience is that elected officials tend to try to do the right thing in matters such as these. Elected being the operative word here.

i would give you a link but it wouldnt put you in touch with the morons who made this policy so it wouldnt do any good ....my suggestion would be to log a complaint directly with the social security office and tell them of your feelings and your logic to the affect that this policy is completely unjust.

Yes. I'd like to lodge a complaint with them too. How might we go about complaining to social security ? Would we just call them ? and even so, how would we get to speak to someone who has the power to make decisions ? My fear is that we would just get some bottom level jobsworth on the line who would hear us out and then dismiss us the moment we hung up.

Special,

You're right. I was just seriously pissed off after I read this story. I'm not ashamed of my homeland, not at all. I'm proud to say I'm American because it's part of who I am, but like you said it's the evil bastards that are in charge of decisions such as this one that I'm ashamed to be associated with. I just don't want people from other countries reading about examples such as this one and think all Americans advocate this kind of travesty.

Social Security has been in trouble since the day it was created. Refer to my 'Fall of the United States' thread to see why.

Trying to communicate directly with Social Security will get you a form letter response, and not much more, IMO.

Having the state rep, the state senator, US Senator, etc., make a call helps to grease the wheels, in my experience. Many of these folks do it because it's the right thing to do, the jaded ones do it because it gets votes. Plus the chance of a photo op is too much to pass up.

I' ve seen it work. Say what you want about the Kennedy's, I've seen them fix a lot of problems for the little guy with just a phone call.

The chances of getting a politician to help seem to increase dramatically, the closer it comes to election day. Something about the air getting clearer so they hear you better, or something.

Plus, never rule out the power of the local media. Exposure on the local radio talk shows, etc., can work wonders.