ORLANDO, Fla. — “You are dead!” That is what Social Security Administration told one Central Florida woman after taking away her benefits this year.
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It’s just the latest story EFYV’s 9 Investigates Team has been looking into for more than a year.
Dorothy Huppert and her husband had been married for 46 years.
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On June 28th, he died and a couple of days later she noticed that most of her money in her bank account was gone.
The bank told her it was because the Social Security Administration took out some of those funds, but she didn’t really know why.
Then she got a letter from her health insurance company, that made it clear, someone thought she was dead.
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Dorothy Huppert told Eyewitness News, “It was dated September the 22nd and it says to the estate of Dorothy J. Huppert. We are sorry to learn about Dorothy Huppert’s death and offer our condolences.”
She believes it was the Social Security Administration who told the insurance company.
A letter from the agency then followed, showing her Social Security benefits were canceled - leaving her with $230 in her checking account.
The cancelation of her health insurance followed.
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So, she spent months trying to get it sorted out and finally spoke to someone on the phone.
“He told me to calm down and he would explain to me why I wasn’t getting benefits and that my husband died June 28, and I died on June 30 and that I’m entitled to his benefits, but I can’t continue to get his checks once I’m dead… and I said, you idiot, I’m not dead.,” Huppert said.
This just another story of what millions of Americans are dealing with at the SSA.
For months, 9 Investigates has been looking into the issues at the SSA, from overpayments to underpayments, denials, and the issue of getting anyone to answer the phone at the government agency.
The SSA has been working this year to fix the issues, but we are still finding people who are still fighting with the government agency for money they said they are owed.
Huppert just got her issue sorted out, but asked us still to tell her story, and said people need to know that more work at the government agency needs to be done.
“This to me was cruel. I thought it was terribly cruel. And I just wanted the people to know about this, that it really did happen,” Huppert added.
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