GN 02602.578 Termination of Entitlement for Title II Beneficiaries Who are Age 115 or Older

Citations: 20 CFR 404.705 Failure to give requested evidence and 404.721; Evidence to presume a person is dead; Social Security Ruling 99-1pPolicy Interpretation Ruling Title II: Termination of Entitlement Based on Presumed Death

A. Overview of the age 115 or older termination process

Effective September 2015, the Social Security Administration (SSA) implemented an automated process in which the Regular Transcript Attainment and Selection Pass (RETAP) application selects records for which the Title II beneficiary is:

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Age 115 or older;
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In any current continuous suspense for seven years or more; and
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Entitled on a record where there are no other beneficiaries in a non-terminated status younger than the age of 115.

The Title II Redesign (T2R) system automatically selects and terminates entitlement to beneficiaries meeting the criteria in this section on a monthly basis using Ledger Account File (LAF) T9 and Reason for Suspension or Termination (RFST) of AGETRM.

For more information on this automated process, see SM 03020.380B.

NOTE:T2R does not issue a notice or payments for the T9 AGETRM termination action. In addition, T2R places Medicare for these beneficiaries in an inactive status.

B. Processing Center (PC) instructions

The PC may receive an exception or processing limitation alert for selected age-115-or-older termination cases that T2R was unable to process successfully. These cases can except for a number of reasons and require manual processing. T2R does not automatically terminate entitlement for:

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Beneficiaries with other claimants active on the record;
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Dually or technically entitled beneficiaries with a discrepancy among records (information pertaining to date of birth (DOB), suspension, and termination; or
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Beneficiaries in an active pay status on a dually entitled record.

For more information on common age-115 termination exceptions and processing limitations, see SM 03020.380C.

For more information on all entitlement and eligibility exceptions and alerts, see SM 03020.360.

1. Resolving exceptions or processing limitations for age-115-or-older termination cases

If you receive an exception or processing limitation:

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Use Transaction History Query Response (THISR) to assist in case review. THISR should show that RETAP selected the case;
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Use the date of birth on the MBR to identify beneficiaries age 115 or older;
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Resolve the processing limitations or exceptions following normal policy guidelines as outlined in SM 03020.360; and
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Terminate the age-115-or-older beneficiary effective the current operating month (COM) using LAF T9 and RFST AGETRM, if applicable.

NOTE:Do not issue a notice or payments for the T9 AGETRM termination action. In addition, place Medicare for these beneficiaries in an inactive status.

2. Developing for possible date of death when there are additional beneficiaries in an active payment status

If there is an additional beneficiary on the Master Beneficiary Record (MBR) in an active payment status when developing for a date of death of an age-115-or-older beneficiary:

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Obtain proof of death following normal policy guidelines in GN 00304.001 and GN 00304.005 through GN 00304.050;
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Terminate benefits to the age-115-or-older beneficiary based on the verified date of death (T1 death termination) as outlined in GN 02602.051;
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Fax proof of death into the Non-Disability Repository for Evidentiary Documents (NDRed) (see GN 00301.310) using the Evidence Portal (EP). For more information on EP, see MS 09701.001; and
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Process the entitlement conversion for any survivors on the record, if applicable.

3. Examples for exceptions or processing limitations

a. Example of age-115 beneficiary dually entitled

RETAP selected a primary Master Beneficiary Record (MBR) for Jane Smith (BIC A) based on:

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Jane’s Beneficiary Identification Code (BIC) is not G,M,T, or TA;
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She is 116 years old ; and
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She has been in suspense for address (LAF S6) for eight continuous years on the selected record.

T2R did not automatically terminate and produced the “Develop for POSS Death Age 115+ NH and BENE Conversion to Survivor” A2I612 exception because on a secondary record, Jane is 114 years old (discrepancy with DOB on primary record).

On the secondary record:

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Jane is entitled as a BIC D;
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She has been in suspense for address (LAF S6) for eight continuous years; and
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There are no additional beneficiaries on this record in an active payment status.

Resolve the DOB discrepancy following normal policy guidelines.

If Jane meets the age-115 termination criteria, take a manual action to terminate her entitlement using LAF T9 and RFST AGETRM on both records.

b. Example of age-115 beneficiary with additional beneficiary on the MBR in active payment status

RETAP selected an MBR for John Doe based on:

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John’s BIC is not G,M,T, or TA;
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He is 118 years old; and
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He has been in suspense for address (LAF S6) for 10 continuous years.

T2R did not automatically terminate and produced the A2I612 exception because John has an additional beneficiary on the MBR in an active payment status.

Develop for a possible date of death as outlined in GN 02602.578B2.

4. Entitlement of age-115-or-older beneficiary terminated erroneously

If an age-115-or-older beneficiary whose entitlement was erroneously terminated contacts SSA, see GN 02602.055.

C. References

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GN 02602.320 Whereabouts Unknown
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SM 03020.001 Entitlement and Eligibility Processing - Overview

To Link to this section - Use this URL:
http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0202602578

GN 02602.578 - Termination of Entitlement for Title II Beneficiaries Who are Age 115 or Older - 10/28/2022
Batch run: 04/01/2024
Rev:10/28/2022

Program Operations Manual System (POMS)