The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would reduce the paperwork involved for some representative payees, who manage Social Security benefits on behalf of someone else. This legislation would address payees who are the family members, specifically the spouse, parent or legal guardian of someone, and would no longer be required to submit an annual accounting form to Social Security that details how benefits were spent over the last year.
The bill, which currently does not have a companion in the U.S. Senate, would shift Social Security’s focus to better monitor payees through other types of reviews paid partially by grants and savings, from requiring the accounting forms to be completed.
It may sound difficult to believe, but lawmakers indicate that Social Security spends up to $95 million per year to mail, process and analyze these forms, which rarely show any misuse of funds.
The largest percentages of payees, close to 64 percent, are either parents or guardians of children, who are Social Security recipients, but a growing number of people who are appointed representatives are adults. Some of the payees appointed are not family members, which Social Security has increasingly been focusing on to ensure benefits are not mismanaged.
There is still some danger with the passage of this bill. Although many family members of payees are responsible and loving husbands, wives and parents, there have been instances where even family members have mismanaged Social Security benefits and not always had the beneficiary’s best interest in mind. Considering the Senate has yet to introduce a similar bill, there is plenty time for debate. If the plan is to get rid of accounting forms that indicate where Social Security funds are being spent, then something even better must be in place to monitor funds to make sure beneficiaries are not being taken advantage of.
