Are we talking about SS or SSI? These aren't the same thing. SSI is disability, paid out of general revenues. SS is a retirement plan (emphatically NOT an entitlement), paid by SS withholding. Your SS is based on the best of at least 35 years of earnings, not the last 7. Your earnings are indexed for inflation. Your check increases for every year you delay starting payment. You cant reset by paying it back (probably couldn't afford to anyway). File and suspend strategies that used to be available for couples are being phased out.

There's no best age to file. Actuarially, claiming at 62 vs 70 produce the same lifetime benefit if you have an average life expectancy. If you are unwell, file early. If grandpa lived to 103, file late. Its a roll of the dice.

https://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10070.pdf