Many people are aware of the fact that if someone has an outstanding felony warrant, they are ineligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) under the 1998 Welfare Reform Act which was passed by Congress. To date, about 100,000 people have been affected adversely by this law.
A lot of people do not know that they have an outstanding warrant, because it may simply have been a failure to appear for a misdemeanor - which then was bumped up to a felony warrant. It could have been a failure to appear for probation or parole - which then gets bumped up to a felony warrant.
Effective January 1, 2005, this ineligibility is expanded to include Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) recipients, and therefore, these recipients will have their checks stop because there appears to be an outstanding felony warrant. These recipients probably will lose any Medicare benefits they may be receiving because they cannot afford to pay that monthly or quarterly premium. It is estimated that as many as 500,000 people on SSDI, nation-wide, will be affected adversely by this law.
In some SSI or SSDI cases, the individual has been the victim of identity theft; or the warrant may have been cleared months or even years earlier; or the warrant may be the result of some failure-to-appear which they have forgotten. In many cases, the warrant is issued out of a different state or county than where the individual now lives, and the individual may have to travel across the country to get the warrant cleared. In addition, the individual may be assessed an overpayment of SSI / SSDI benefits: all benefits paid as of the date of the alleged warrant may be considered overpaid, to be refunded to the Social Security Administration.
HALSA already is working with the National Senior Citizens' Law Center and
other advocacy groups to challenge some of these
cases in court. Because the law requires the Social
Security Administration to prove that the individual
was "fleeing" to avoid prosecution for a felony,
and because many of the individuals in question
never "fled" the state or even the county
in which the warrant was issued (and because others
can prove they left town for medical or family
or employment reasons), in some cases, benefits
can be reinstated because the judge agrees that
the fleeing felon law does not apply. In one recent
case, the federal court judge noted that if the
SSI recipient has a significant mental health
impairment, the SSI recipient may not be able
to form the criminal intent necessary to commit
a felony.
If you believe you have an outstanding warrant, if your SSI or SSDI benefits have terminated for any reason, or if you already have received a notice of cessation or of overpayment from the Social Security Administration, please call the HALSA Intake Line: (213) 201-1640 for an intake with our benefits attorney, or for the appropriate referral.
The SSDI recipients are likely to get their Notices of Termination (or Cessation) of Benefits) beginning in April or May of 2005.
11/11/2004 - Social Security and the New Fleeing Felon Rules
11/01/2004 - Success! SSDI + VA
11/01/2004 - Success! CD4 of Two = DISABLED
08/27/2004 - Success! HIV + Developmental Disability
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