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Kitchen helper stool12/17/2023 In the meantime, the beneficiary is likely to have spent the money, and the amount involved can grow to overwhelming proportions. “We were aware of information but failed to take action, or we took incorrect action when the recipient or third-party provided requested information,” the scorecard said.Ī much larger source of overpayments in that program, the agency said, was that beneficiaries did not report information, such as changes in their wages or assets.īy the time the agency catches a mistake, years can pass. The agency tracks its overpayments through quarterly “payment integrity scorecards.” In the most recent scorecard for one Social Security program, the agency said $265 million of overpayments in the 2022 fiscal year were “within the agency’s control.” In other words, the agency blamed itself. When the agency determines it has overpaid, SSA can ultimately reclaim money from beneficiaries by, for instance, reducing or stopping their monthly benefit payments, garnishing wages, and intercepting federal tax refunds. That means keeping overpayments to a minimum - and recovering them when they happen, the inspector general has written. The Social Security Administration is required to be a good steward of the money entrusted to it. That’s the picture that emerges from agency employees, advocates for the disabled, policy research, SSA publications, reports by the inspector general, records of individual cases, and interviews with more than a dozen people in five states who received repayment notices. The system has built-in lags in checking information such as beneficiaries’ income and relies heavily on data submitted by beneficiaries themselves.The Social Security Administration does not have adequate staffing to keep up with its workload, much of which is done by hand.Limits on what beneficiaries can save or own have not been adjusted for inflation in decades.But much of the fault lies within the system - for example: Overpayments can result from Social Security making a mistake or from beneficiaries failing to comply with requirements, intentionally or otherwise. Most are on disability, and many cannot afford to repay the government, Smalligan said. Jack Smalligan of the Urban Institute, who has done research on Social Security, estimated that millions of people have received notices saying the agency overpaid them. The agency rejected a May 2022 Freedom of Information Act request for documentation of every overpayment notice sent over several years, and a March 2023 appeal is pending. “We do not report on the number of debtors,” spokesperson Nicole Tiggemann said in a statement. The agency declined to say how many people have been asked to repay overpayments. The Social Security Administration declined an interview request from KFF Health News and Cox Media Group and would field questions only submitted by email. “Overpayments push already struggling beneficiaries even deeper into poverty and hardship, which is directly counterproductive to the goals” of safety-net programs. “We have an overpayment crisis on our hands,” said Rebecca Vallas, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation think tank. One consequence is a costly collection effort for the government and a potentially devastating ordeal for the beneficiary. The Social Security Administration is trying to reclaim billions of dollars from many of the nation’s poorest and most vulnerable - payments it sent them but now says they never should have received.ĭuring the 2022 fiscal year, the agency clawed back $4.7 billion of overpayments, while another $21.6 billion remained outstanding, according to a report by SSA’s inspector general. “Social Security should be to help people, not to destroy them,” said Addie Arnold, Worrell’s aunt and caregiver. Within 30 days, it said, she should mail the government a check or money order. The Social Security Administration had been overpaying her, the letter said, and wanted money back. Contact usĪ year ago, she was earning $862 a month and receiving about $1,065 in monthly Social Security disability benefits when a letter arrived from the federal government. Do you have an experience with Social Security overpayments you’d like to share? Click here to contact our reporting team.
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