From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):
Our review of 1,532 beneficiaries in current pay status as of October 2003 found that over a 10-year period (from October 2003 through February 2014), SSA [Social Security Administration] assessed overpayments for 44.5 percent of sampled beneficiaries. Based on the sample, we estimated
SSA assessed overpayments totaling about $16.8 billion between October 2003 and February 2014 for approximately 4 million beneficiaries who were in current payment status in October 2003 ;
SSA recovered about $8 .1 billion of the $16.8 billion in overpayments it assessed ; and
SSA prevented about $8 billion in overpayments between October 2003 and February 2014 to approximately 1 million beneficiaries in current pay status in October 2003 by suspending monthly payments.
Additionally, the overpayment rate in Fiscal Year 2004 was 3.1 percent of all benefits paid that year.The report goes on to note that although it can take time, after ten years Social Security had been able to recover 85% of the overpayments made in 2003. Many of the overpayments were, as the report puts it, unavoidable because the individuals received interim benefits while they appealed benefit terminations.
16 comments:
I constantly hear whining here of "what about all the people who are underpaid?" From the report, only TWO out of the 1500 were potentially underpaid
Benefit continuation is just a bad practice. No question you should have the right to appeal a cessation of your medical condition, but we shouldn't pay you while we make the decision. I don't know off hand what the reversal rate of medical cessations is, but I know I see more huge overpayments than reversals.
Another attempt to smear this valuable piece of the safety net with "objective" evidence. The report is based on a ten year look at a cohort of which over half are SSI recipients. With SSI's Byzantine rules and woefully outdated financial limits, it should come as no surprise that sometime during a ten year period a recipient would be overpaid. Nobody is getting rich here. Worse, it is shocking that the media blindly report this stuff without context. It's just more ammo for the I've-got-mine set.
Example of the typical headline: "Report: Social Security overpaid nearly half on disability"
http://www.kentucky.com/2015/06/06/3887302/report-social-security-overpaid.html
Well, if the Agency could process the over payment cases with any sense of clarity and expediency--never mind even having actual proof in the file--maybe continuation of benefits would not be such an expensive proposition.
In reality what you have is a gigantic Cluster cluck with beneficiaries repeatedly told "don't worry about it, you would not be receiving benefits if you were not entitled to them"; byzantine rules for SSI recipients; OP files with not a wit of evidence in them except for narratives drafted by DO personnel (no editorial comments out of professional courtesy, but I do use the phrase loosely);confusing and nonsensical letters going out to the claimant's when they are finally notified of the OP; and no sense of urgency in processing these cases, except for the demand that the poor claimant pay SSA 30K within ten days. Kafka at its best.
And I'm inside the asylum, so I can only imagine what people on the outside think of the OP process.
I sincerely hope that the pending class actions on OP issues is allowed to go forward. It is way overdue.
All I here about is overpaying it is not like these people on welfare these people payef in to social security it is there money..
4:08,
I can't tell if you're trolling, but just in case you're not... SSI recipients don't pay into the system. SSI is a form of welfare funded by general taxes (not FICA/SECA contributions).
I aree with you,but I worked in coal mines sence I was 18 years old I am 54 now it bothers me some people think I am asking for a hand out,no im not im getting punished for something .
So what's the point about SSI 4:08 and 7:08 are trying to make? Do they think it would be OK to allow the poor to sink or swim on their own and have Americans living in Brazilian or Indian quality slums? I hope not and would venture to say that these overpayments are the result of a program with compliance requirements that would challenge any team of lawyers and CPAs, let alone marginally educated folks living in poverty.
If you're on SSI, please just report to SSA if you are working. Don't go to work for the 4th, 5th, or 6th time and consistently fail to report after we waived your overpayments for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd times you worked and failed to report. Don't send paystubs every month to report wages for several years, then report you stopped working, resume working a couple of months later and then make no report whatsoever for all of your subsequent jobs. Running out of envelopes to send in your stubs is not a valid excuse. It is not always SSA's fault, believe it or not!
7:45 PM,
The point 4:08 was making is that overpayments don't matter because all of the recipients pay into the Social Security programs and it's their money. 4:08 was simply pointing out that 7:08 has the facts wrong - SSI recipients don't pay into anything.
Your entire post, on the other hand, is a strawman. No one suggested people should live in slums.
So what's your point 8:39? Are SSI recipients less worthy of government assistance?
Overpayments are overpayments and we have to understand why they occur. By and large the bulk of the one's cited in this report are the result of the incredibly complicated requirements set out in the law. Try explaining retrospective monthly accounting, living arrangements, in kind support, work incentives, etc., to a person who has a high school education or less.
Well, one hour ago FOX news jumped on the overpayment news. Funny nobody talks about the millions in underpayment to SSDI and SSI recipients. Overpayments do not occur in a vacuum. In 2013 SSA overpaid about 22% in claims. If SSA is recovering 50% of overpayments, that results in about 11% overpaid. Now during the same time SSA underpaid 13% of benefits.
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/improperpayments/RSDI_progStats.html#sb=2&sb=2
The public is not interested in underpayments. I represent SSI and SSDI claimants. I can assure you many SSA field offices make it difficult if not impossible to correct underpayments. Last week a Field Office refused to discuss an underpay SSI case because my recent 1696 ( updated 3 months ago) did not apply and I needed to submit a 3288 form to even discuss the recipient I had represented for the last year.
It‘s a shell game. Man bites dog makes news, SSA underpays? Won’t see it on FOX.
@ 9:32
I'm not part of the crowd, but you'd have to be pretty clueless to not already know that, yes, lots of people feel SSI recipients are less deserving of government assistance than folks who earned Title II insurability. Again, not that I agree, but it's a pretty easy argument to see--one group worked sufficiently to earn enough quarters of coverage to be eligible for disability insurance, and the other group did not. We need to work on countering their arguments and not just be incredulous that they make them.
I have commented on this before, but some people want to continue in their firmly held mindsets that all SSI recipients are bums. I practice in a semi-rural, formerly light industrial (before outsourcing) area. My typical client has been in the system 6 months to a year before retaining me. Then we must wait 2 1/2 to 3 years for a hearing, after which it will take another 3-4 months to receive a denial. If we appeal the ALJ's denial to the AC, that will require another 1 to 1 1/2 years (and good luck with that)! Subsequently, when the truly disabled former worker submits new evidence with a new application, the DLI is past. By the time we get to another hearing with strong evidence, the ALJ will demand an amended onset date which will be past the DLI. My now destitute and desperate client will accept anything to remain alive, so he/she gets SSI to avoid the risk of receiving another denial, more delay and certain abject poverty.
"SSI applicants and recipients haven't paid into the system."
Sometimes, sometimes not. I see a fair number of people (usually women) who worked (and paid into the system) for several years, even decades, then left the workforce (sometimes because of marriage, often to care for a family member). When they apply for disability, their credits have expired. They've paid into the system, sometimes more than those who are insured, but not enough recently to qualify for RSDI. Saying SSI applicants haven't paid into the system is painting with too broad a brush.
Justin
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