US Social Security

[bunnydrops]

1 hour ago, thesetat said:

Did you even bother to read that? They have not checked since 2008. About time they do it again/ don't you think? 

Yes I did

Last Updated: March 17, 2025

 

The mention of the 2008 audit report was for the quote. There is no mention of when it was last checked.

 

In a 2008 audit report, the Inspector General noted that “SSA receives most death reports from funeral homes or friends/relatives of the deceased. SSA considers such first party death reports to be verified and immediately posts them to the Death Master File.”

[John Drake]

There are real limitations. You cannot change your direct deposit if you live outside the US. 

 

 

[sharot724]

2 minutes ago, John Drake said:

There are real limitations. You cannot change your direct deposit if you live outside the US. 

 

 

Since when I did it no problem

[John Drake]

6 minutes ago, sharot724 said:

Since when I did it no problem

 

I just checked their page. When you go to your profile and then click banking, you get "contact us." You click on "contact us" and it has a link for living outside the US. You click on that and on page 4 at the bottom it says: 

 

Some services are not available outside of the United States.

Changing your address (if you are not a US Citizen).

Changing your direct deposit.

Requesting a replacement Social Security card.

 

Here is the direct link: https://www.ssa.gov/foreign/index.html

[jerrymahoney]

There have been comments against multiple topics that an expat who has SSA money deposited directly at a Thai bank is more at risk these days than otherwise.

I think at some point persons in charge should realize that the savings in Medicare by an expat not being able to take advantage of benefits while ex-USA should make up a good deal (if not more) of any ex-pat payments.

[sharot724]

10 minutes ago, John Drake said:

 

I just checked their page. When you go to your profile and then click banking, you get "contact us." You click on "contact us" and it has a link for living outside the US. You click on that and on page 4 at the bottom it says: 

 

Some services are not available outside of the United States.

Changing your address (if you are not a US Citizen).

Changing your direct deposit.

Requesting a replacement Social Security card.

 

Here is the direct link: https://www.ssa.gov/foreign/index.html

So I recall I called and completed the change by phone and not at the website.

[John Drake]

2 minutes ago, sharot724 said:

So I recall I called and completed the change by phone and not at the website.

 

As of 29 March, you must change direct deposit information on the website or in a SSA office. Musk has ordered the shut down of changing banking info by phone.

[sharot724]

1 minute ago, John Drake said:

 

As of 29 March, you must change direct deposit information on the website or in a SSA office. Musk has ordered the shut down of changing banking info by phone.

scary times

[John Drake]

1 minute ago, sharot724 said:

scary times

 

This apparently means that as of 29 March, those of us in Thailand will need to make an appointment at the nearest SSA office, which is in Manila, if we want to change our direct deposit.

[sharot724]

SSA changed enforcement of BBK features for retirees. You must now have a both a direct deposit and a banking spend account . Only way to enact is at your bank here where you can transfer there.

[Hawaiian]

2 hours ago, riclag said:

Where was your concern before?Did you have your information exposed like millions have, I spent all my like being cautious of my personal information being secure only to find the Government let glitches & nefarious actors ( hackers) tamper with data , I ‘m a victim of this! I wonder how many here have been exposed as a result of the breach below but are to embarrassed to admit it.
The Government accountability office  found  possible fraud  annually , see below . Forget about trying to investigate  years 2023 &  2024 , Biden was to busy trying to figure , how he could jury rig ,teleprompters.

 

GOOGLE Ai:

“The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that the federal government could lose between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud, based on data from fiscal years 2018 through 2022”.

 No district or federal judges slapped injunctions on the GAO which begs the question why!

I ‘ll tell you why , they knew the bureaucrats running the system wouldn’t be straight forward with the systems in place.

 

A hacker was allowed in April of 2024 to

breach the government database and expose millions of  Social Security numbers in the National Public Database breech the largest breach in history! RESULT,blame it on a hacker and forget about it.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/national-public-data-breach-what-you-need-to-know-843686f7-06e2-4e91-8a3f-ae30b7213535

Just who is that who who allowed the hacker to breach the government database?

[Bohemianfish]

On 3/22/2025 at 4:01 PM, Dan747 said:

Here is Musk’s direct quote: “The waste and fraud in entitlement spending — which is most of the federal spending is entitlements — so, that’s, like, the big one to eliminate. That’s the, sort of half-trillion, maybe $6-700 billion a year.”

And he’s exactly right.

• FACT: The U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates taxpayers lose as much as $521 billion annually to fraud — and most of that is within entitlement programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid.
• FACT: Over the past two decades, the federal government has made an estimated $2.7 trillion in “improper payments” — the majority of which come in the form of “payments to deceased individuals or those who no longer [are] eligible for government programs.”
• FACT: The Social Security Administration made an estimated $72 billion in improper payments between 2015 and 2022.
• FACT: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimated it made $140+ billion in improper payments in 2024 alone.

What kind of a person doesn’t support eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending that ultimately costs taxpayers more?

Musk has yet to prove much fraud. In fact, its been reported they are having a hard time finding it. How is Musk exaclty right? Are you DOGE?

[Bohemianfish]

They are committing atrocities against its citizen, many older and vulerable. SS is overstressed without enough workers. They want to make it difficult to fix anything if you have a problem. They want to create friction so they pay out less and end up destroying peoples' lives.

[Hawaiian]

On 3/22/2025 at 1:01 PM, Dan747 said:

Here is Musk’s direct quote: “The waste and fraud in entitlement spending — which is most of the federal spending is entitlements — so, that’s, like, the big one to eliminate. That’s the, sort of half-trillion, maybe $6-700 billion a year.”

And he’s exactly right.

• FACT: The U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates taxpayers lose as much as $521 billion annually to fraud — and most of that is within entitlement programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid.
• FACT: Over the past two decades, the federal government has made an estimated $2.7 trillion in “improper payments” — the majority of which come in the form of “payments to deceased individuals or those who no longer [are] eligible for government programs.”
• FACT: The Social Security Administration made an estimated $72 billion in improper payments between 2015 and 2022.
• FACT: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimated it made $140+ billion in improper payments in 2024 alone.

What kind of a person doesn’t support eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending that ultimately costs taxpayers more?

Why wasn't anything done about this during Trump's first term?

[riclag]

3 hours ago, Hawaiian said:

Just who is that who who allowed the hacker to breach the government database?

The bureaucracy that doesn’t want their antiquated systems checked & changed!

[jas007]

3 hours ago, jerrymahoney said:

There have been comments against multiple topics that an expat who has SSA money deposited directly at a Thai bank is more at risk these days than otherwise.

I think at some point persons in charge should realize that the savings in Medicare by an expat not being able to take advantage of benefits while ex-USA should make up a good deal (if not more) of any ex-pat payments.

They probably don't want to fool around with administering such a program outside the USA in hundreds of different countries, and they're probably afraid of fraud.  On the other hand, it could probably be done in a limited fashion.

 

I have health insurance as a former federal employee. It's a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan and it works pretty much anywhere in the world.  When I'm out of the country and need Medical Care, any inpatient charges at a "preferred provider," like Bumrungrad hospital in Bangkok, are covered 100%, with no limit.  They have preferred providers in just about every country, with the exception of places like North Korea. For outpatient care, I have to file a claim and they reimburse me later for most of the cost.   So, there's a potential mechanism already in place for the management of overseas claims. 

[riclag]

2 hours ago, Hawaiian said:

Why wasn't anything done about this during Trump's first term?

They past 4 laws  since 2002 , amounting to 0 accountability!

Click the observed highlight.

 

Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL) observed that Congress had passed four laws to reduce improper payments since 2002. He suggested that fixing the problem would require Congress and the president to hold agency officials accountable for errant federal payments. Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) agreed, as did Mfume.

https://www.aei.org/op-eds/congress-tries-to-stop-the-hundreds-of-billions-in-fraudulent-and-improper-spending/

[jerrymahoney]

1 hour ago, jas007 said:

They probably don't want to fool around with administering such a program outside the USA in hundreds of different countries, and they're probably afraid of fraud.  On the other hand, it could probably be done in a limited fashion.

I was not at all suggesting an ex-USA change to Medicare. Only that -- by not being eligible for Medicare coverage as an expat -- Medicare saves a whole lot compared to what they would likely expend if I were living US Stateside.

[jas007]

51 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

I was not at all suggesting an ex-USA change to Medicare. Only that -- by not being eligible for Medicare coverage as an expat -- Medicare saves a whole lot compared to what they would likely expend if I were living US Stateside.

You're eligible if you return to the USA and haven't dropped Part B. If that's the case, you have to wait for open season or whatever.  I think you always have Part A.  Or am I misunderstanding you? 

[Hawaiian]

1 hour ago, riclag said:

They past 4 laws  since 2002 , amounting to 0 accountability!

Click the observed highlight.

 

Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL) observed that Congress had passed four laws to reduce improper payments since 2002. He suggested that fixing the problem would require Congress and the president to hold agency officials accountable for errant federal payments. Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) agreed, as did Mfume.

https://www.aei.org/op-eds/congress-tries-to-stop-the-hundreds-of-billions-in-fraudulent-and-improper-spending/

And yet the fraudulent and improper spending continued.

[jerrymahoney]

3 minutes ago, jas007 said:

You're eligible if you return to the USA

But if, as an expat,  you never return to the USA you cost Medicare nothing at least compared what they would likely expend on a full-time USA resident.

[riclag]

23 minutes ago, Hawaiian said:

And yet the fraudulent and improper spending continued.

Uh huh!

Rep Gary Palmer  went further to say its been goin on for decades!

He highlighted antiquated systems as a big issue!

[Peabody]

On 3/23/2025 at 7:41 AM, hotsun said:

$3.48 in today's dollars is worth $109.75 in 1900 dollars.

[Jingthing]

Heads up.

First of all many expats have a U.S. address on record with the SSA even though they're expats.

That is arguably fraud. 

I expect the Dogey tech bros will get to to that issue eventually and then who knows what?

If I had to guess based on the sleazy tactics of the Dogey tech bros, I would expect benefits cutoff, or even worse, with difficult reinstatement paths.

I think that is very big issue as I'm sure the percentage of expats that do that is quite high, especially those in Mexico. People do that to avoid the proof of life letter. etc.

As far as what we do know already, the Dogey tech bros are sad that it turns out there aren't actually tens of millions of people over age 150 collecting benefits.

It turns out the that the level of fraud easily found is actually very minimal.

So now what?

I'll tell you.

They'll make it harder and harder to make new claims and make changes, meaning many people will be cut off for very long periods of time unfairly.

They have announced that very soon MILLIONS of letters will go announcing AUDITS of SS recipients.

This includes retirement status.

What red flags for an audit?

Changing your address.

Changing your direct deposit details.

Dealing with such an audit where you may even need  a lawyer will be big fun from abroad.

Many of you voted for this. I hope you're happy. 

[TheAppletons]

"The Social Security Administration website crashed four times in 10 days this month, blocking millions of retirees and disabled Americans from logging in to their online accounts because the servers were overloaded.

 

In the field, office managers have resorted to answering phones at the front desk as receptionists because so many employees have been pushed out. But the agency no longer has a system to monitor customers’ experience with these services, because that office was eliminated as part of the cost-cutting efforts led by Elon Musk."

 

and

 

"The federal agency that delivers $1.5 trillion a year in earned benefits to 73 million retired workers, their survivors and poor and disabled Americans is engulfed in crisis — further undermining its ability to provide reliable and quick service to vulnerable customers, according to internal documents and more than two dozen current and former agency employees and officials, customers and others who interact with Social Security."

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/long-waits-waves-of-calls-web-crashes-social-security-is-breaking-down/ar-AA1BBnUP

[Jingthing]

They're deliberately trying to break it. Then they can "fix" it to meet their actual goals and their actual goals have nothing to do with serving the public. But many of you guys voted for this.

[riclag]

In august 2024 when I was alerted my

Number was involved in a databreach

along with millions of  other US citizens. I immediately froze my credit by calling 

the 3 credit agencies . Next I updated 

My SocialSecurity account to make it harder for someone to use my number . SOCIAL SECURITY SENT a password in the mail to the address on file in the states, I used that password to generate a longin.gov account to access my Ssa account.

Finally I purchased a Aura Fraud Protection service!

 

In August 2024, 3 lawsuits were filed( thats a joke , the cats out of the bag).

The suits say it was basically intentional.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_National_Public_Data_breach

 

[gamb00ler]

8 hours ago, Hawaiian said:

Why wasn't anything done about this during Trump's first term?

There was too much interesting stuff on TV

[gamb00ler]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Heads up.

First of all many expats have a U.S. address on record with the SSA even though they're expats.

I think it was in this YouTube video by a former SSA manager that stated you are allowed to have two addresses on your SSA record.  One for residence and one as a mailing address.  That was news to me.  I have no idea if that YouTuber is accurate.  I don't really care for his content that much and his presentation is mediocre at best.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WemXdHIcSsA

 

That is the wrong link....it's in this video by the same guy:

https://www.youtube.com/live/9h6VptUea90?si=nvAXEiZcf6i7-8gS

 

[Jingthing]

9 hours ago, Hawaiian said:

Why wasn't anything done about this during Trump's first term?

No Project 2025. No Musk.