An elderly woman with an autoimmune disease from Pittsburgh is at risk of serving time in jail. Ruthann Pickerd, who used to receive Social Security benefits, is being asked to pay back $63K. She is also a widow and has a disabled son whom she could be separated from.
Ruthann was married to John, who served in Vietnam. She was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease in 2022. Nothing could have prepared her for her husband’s sudden death a year later.
Misfortune kept finding the elderly woman when she received a notice from the Social Security Administration in February of 2024. Ruthann was a recipient of Social Security Disability payments that helped her pay her medical bills. The notice informed her that the payments she was receiving would be suspended.
Pittsburgh mom ordered to pay back $63K to Social Security by Friday. Now she fears jail time, separation from disabled adult son. Is this common?#SocialSecurity #PersonalFinance #Disabilityhttps://t.co/7kRuCyMyvc
— Moneywise (@moneywisecom) December 4, 2025
This prompted her to file for a waiver in an attempt to get the payments restarted. The money for her treatment solely came from the Social Security Disability payments. The woman was forced to quit her nursing job after 3 decades due to her diagnosis.
“I got a letter from the SSA, 17 months later, saying we received your request for a waiver,” Ruthann said in an interview with Pittsburgh television station WPXI (via Moneywise). She also shared how she had waited for 17 months to hear back.
When another letter from SSA arrived, it came bearing even worse news. The agency informed her that the waiver her son gets to help with his treatment was considered income. Considering that, Ruthann was ruled out as a beneficiary for Social Security Disability.
This is so cruel.
A Chicago couple was stunned to learn they owed Social Security $51,887 and were expected to pay it back in 30 days.
The reason? Social Security mistakenly overpaid them.@andersoncooper reports pic.twitter.com/WlRaI9y03n
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) November 6, 2023
The agency also informed her that she should not have received the benefits she did in the first place. The widow is being asked to pay back all the money she has received from the SSA under the program.
“Now, right before the holidays, they decide we want our money,” she shared. The woman has been asked to pay the sum of money back before Friday. “It doesn’t matter what happens to you or your son. We just want our money,” she noted, referring to the second notice.
Ruthann is now put in a difficult spot while the holidays are just around the corner. She is afraid she could lose her home, and the support her disabled son relies on. Worst of all, she fears she could end up in jail with nobody to care for her son.
