AARP Bulletin/July-August 2005
The federal government will soon begin using its mammoth law enforcement databases to find people it deems to be fugitives and strip them of their Social Security retirement benefits.

   Since it's creation in 1996, the little-known Fugitive Felon Project has snared 45,000 or so recipients of federal disability benefits under the Supplemental Security Income program.  In 2004 Congress widened the project to include the much larger ranks of retired Americans; the Social Security Administration is now writing regulations for the new program.

   Critics of the approach say that thousands of sick and disabled persons lost benefits even though they were no longer sought by authorities or faced only minor, dated charges.  A man living in a nursing home in Georgia, for example, was stripped of his SSI benefits because of an unpaid motel in Washington state dating back 23 years.

   "Three times as many elderly and disabled American will lose their benefits under this expansion," says Gerald McIntyre, directing attorney of the Los Angeles-based National Senior Citizens Law Center.

   Proponents argue that while hardships may occur in a minority of cases, they're outweighed by the savings to taxpayers--$83.4 million in the first years years, an amount that's expected to grow as the new law is implemented.