Improper Social Security Payments Reach $1.1 Billion, Agency Backlog Hits All-Time High (Connecting the Dots: The Independent Task Force on Immigration and America's Future, The Social Security Administration (SSA) & Soros Funding, All Networking)
The
agency placed the blame partly on a shortage of workers and funding.
The
Epoch Times
8/11/2024Updated:8/11/2024
The
backlog of payment actions at the Social Security Administration (SSA) is now at a
“record-breaking” level, resulting in the agency making over a billion dollars
in improper payments to beneficiaries, according to the SSA’s Office of
Inspector General (OIG).
The
SSA’s backlog of pending actions hit an “all-time high” of 5.2 million as of
February, the OIG said in an Aug. 8 press
release, citing an analysis published in June. Pending actions at
the agency’s claims processing centers that remain unresolved for a long period
of time have resulted in “larger improper payments, including growing
underpayments or increasing overpayments to beneficiaries.”
Overpayments
put social security beneficiaries under a great burden since the agency will
ask them to pay back the overpaid amount at any time. Some recipients may not
be in a financial position to repay.
Meanwhile,
underpayments mean beneficiaries do not receive their correct monthly payment,
which is financially challenging for many recipients.
The
delay in resolving pending actions led to the SSA making $1.1 billion worth of
improper payments by February, the OIG stated.
“Customer
satisfaction has been an ongoing concern for SSA,” said Michelle Anderson,
acting Inspector General for SSA. “This report continues to highlight the
urgency for SSA to reach its pending actions performance goal and to ensure
beneficiaries receive their proper payments as promptly as possible.”
SSA
blamed the “record-breaking” backlog on increased workload, staff reductions,
and lower-than-expected funding for overtime. Overtime funding could be used to
pay workers to resolve more pending actions, thus reducing the backlog, the
agency said.
The
SSA had reviewed the draft version of the OIG report
and sent a response to the watchdog in June. The agency agreed on the need to
cut down the processing centers’ pending actions backlog and processing delays.
However, this would require “additional resources,” it said in its response.
The
SSA pointed out that the agency has “over 650 fewer employees working on
processing centers’ workloads now than we did eight years ago, while our
beneficiary count has risen from roughly 64 million people to nearly 72 million
in that same time period.”
Moreover,
the SSA is experiencing staffing challenges with high separation rates in key
roles. Without adequate funding, the agency is “left to prioritize growing
workloads with our current resources in mind.”
Improper
Payment Issue
The
OIG pointed out in its report that the SSA failed to reduce its processing
center pending actions over the past six years, resulting in the backlog rising
from 3.2 million in fiscal year 2018 to 4.6 million last year.
As
the backlog kept growing, pending actions remained unresolved for longer
periods, the report stated. Of 139 processing centers’ (PC) actions analyzed by
the OIG, almost three-fourths were pending for 300 days or more, with 43
percent unresolved for 500 days or longer.
“Once
processed, PC pending actions can result in improper payments ... The longer it
takes SSA to process PC pending actions, the longer beneficiaries wait for
underpayments due or they receive larger overpayments to pay back.”
In
one instance, the SSA initially identified an overpaid beneficiary back in June
2021 when the person had received $9,000 in excess money from the agency.
However, the SSA only took action to collect overpayments around two years
later, in May 2023. During this time, the overpayments continued, with the
overpaid amount totaling $62,000.
Even
though the beneficiary sought a waiver arguing that the agency was at fault and
that the individual could not afford to pay back the money, the person had to
agree to make partial payments to resolve the case, the report stated.
For
improper payments, the SSA has taken certain actions. In March, the agency announced
a new rule easing burdens on overpayment recipients.
Earlier,
the SSA would have withheld 100 percent of a beneficiary’s monthly benefits
until the overpaid amount was collected.
However,
the new rule dismissed this practice. Instead, the agency now collects 10
percent or $10, whichever is greater, of the overpaid amount from the monthly
benefits to recover overpayments.
“Social
Security is taking a critically important step towards our goal of ensuring our
overpayment policies are fair, equitable, and do not unduly harm anyone,”
Martin O’Malley, commissioner of Social Security, said at the time.
In
February, the SSA proposed
a rule for using information from payroll data providers in its calculations.
The proposed Payroll Information Exchange is expected to reduce manual
reporting errors, which could then reduce improper payments as well, the agency
stated.
Can
noncitizens receive Social Security benefits or Supplemental Security (SSI)?
https://faq.ssa.gov/en-US/Topic/article/KA-02447
Lawfully
present noncitizens of the United States who meet all eligibility requirements
can qualify for Social Security benefits. This rule also applies to noncitizens
authorized to work in the United States who got a Social Security number after
December 2003. For more information visit our Immigration page.
Noncitizens of the United States must meet certain requirements to continue receiving
benefits outside of the United States. We stop payments to noncitizens who do
not meet these requirements after they are outside the United States for 6
calendar months in a row. If we stopped your payments, we will not start them
again until you return to the United States and remain for a full calendar
month. For more information visit our International Programs page.
Some
noncitizens may qualify for SSI. However, the SSI eligibility requirements are
different from those for Social Security benefits.
For
information on SSI go visit our Supplemental Security Income (SSI) For
Noncitizens or Spotlight On SSI Benefits For Aliens pages.
Connecting
the Dots:
Lee H. Hamilton is
a co-chair for the Independent Task Force on
Immigration and America's Future and an honorary trustee at
the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder
for the Brookings Institution (think tank).
George Soros was the Chairman
for the Foundation to Promote Open Society and Jonathan Soros’s
father.
Jonathan Soros is George
Soros’s son, a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute
and was the vice chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the
Roosevelt Institute.
James Roosevelt
Jr. is a governor at the Roosevelt Institute and was an
associate commissioner for the Social Security Administration (SSA).
Gwendolyn S. King
was a commissioner for the Social Security Administration (SSA) and
is a founding partner at the Directors' Council.
Michele J. Hooper is
a founding partner at the Directors' Council and a member of the Belizean
Grove.
Henrietta
Holsman Fore is a member of the Belizean Grove and a
trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Belizean_Grove is
the equivalent to the male-only social group, the Bohemian Club.
Henry
A. Kissinger was member of the Bohemian Club and a
lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for
the Aspen Institute (think tank).
George Soros was the Chairman
for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Jane Lakes Harman is
a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank) and the president
& CEO for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars (think tank).
Thelma Duggin is
a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank) and a trustee at
the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (think
tank).
Lee H. Hamilton was the president & director for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (think tank), is a co-chair for the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America's Future and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder
for the Brookings Institution (think tank).
George Soros was the Chairman
for the Foundation to Promote Open Society and Jonathan Soros’s
father.
Jonathan Soros is George
Soros’s son, a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute
and was the vice chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the
Roosevelt Institute.
James Roosevelt
Jr. is a governor at the Roosevelt Institute and was an
associate commissioner for the Social Security Administration (SSA).
Resources:
Past Research
Obama’s
IRS Chief: We Don’t Alert Americans When Illegal Aliens Steal Social Security
Numbers to Get U.S. Jobs (Past Research on the Social
Security Administration)
Friday,
April 15, 2016
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2016/04/obamas-irs-chief-we-dont-alert.html
Social
Security Update: Agency Backpedals as NRA and Pro-Gun Officials Press for
Answers (Past Research on the Social Security
Administration)
Sunday,
October 18, 2015
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/search?q=Social+Security+Administration
Independent
Task Force on Immigration and America's Future (Connecting the Dots:
Independent Task Force on Immigration and America's Future, Mexico, Obama,
ACORN, Lee Hamilton And His Nephew David F. Hamilton, The U.S. Court of Appeals
for the 7th Circuit, & Soros Funding, All Networking) (Past Research on Immigration)
Sunday,
January 1, 2023
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