SSI is a benefits program that provides for basic necessities for very low income people over 65 and people with disabilities. SSI recipients married to someone of the same sex were being asked to pay back “overpayments” caused by SSA’s failure to recognize their marriages. Under SSA’s new policy, they should now be able to receive a waiver, or forgiveness, of those overpayments even, in most cases, without having to formally apply for relief.
These overpayments were caused by SSA’s continued application of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which unconstitutionally disrespected these marriages, for many months, and even years, after that statute was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in Windsor v. United States. SSA calculated eligibility and benefit amounts for these individuals as if they were single, even though they were married, which resulted in overpayments. When SSA finally recognized these marriages, the agency asked them to pay back thousands of dollars they did not have and which SSI rules did not allow them to save.