Social Security Agency Demands Billions Back After Accidentally Overpaying

Social Security recipients have been hit with payback demands following overpayment— and now the government agency is facing questions over how billions of dollars were incorrectly paid out.

Numerous reports have told the stories of people, many of whom are vulnerable or suffer from a disability, who have been asked to pay back large sums due to the service accidentally giving them too much money.

Social Security payments are made for a variety of reasons. SSA benefits are paid based on your earnings record if you are aged 62 or older or if you are a person with a disability and have enough work credits. For many people who are unable to work or are retired, payments form the bulk of their income.

One woman in Ohio was mailed a bill in excess of $60,000 and ordered to pay by check or money order within 30 days, her caregiver told ABC News. Alex Hubbard, a young man who has autism, told Seattle news station KIRO-TV that he owes the agency over $11,000.

Newsweek was unable to confirm the current status of how much these individuals may owe to the Social Security Administration.

During the 2022 fiscal year, the SSA regained $4.7 billion of overpayments, while another $21.6 billion remained outstanding, according to a report by SSA's inspector general.

But such a huge gap in how much the SSA has been able to repeal is down to a number of aggravating factors. KIRO-TV reported that its research found four examples of why so many overpayments are being made, with the blame partially being laid on recipients but a considerable chunk being the fault of SSA processes and staffing levels:

• Complex rules that are hard to follow
• Limits on what beneficiaries can save or own have not been adjusted for inflation in decades
• A lack of adequate staffing at the SSA to keep up with its workload
• A lag in checking information like beneficiaries' income and reliance on data submitted by beneficiaries themselves

A spokesperson for the SSA told Newsweek: "Social Security is required by law to adjust benefits or recover debts when we establish that someone received payments to which they are not entitled and an overpayment occurs. We must maintain our responsibilities to taxpayers to be good stewards of the trust funds.

"Each person's situation is unique, and we handle overpayments on a case-by-case basis. Overpayments can occur for many reasons, such as when a beneficiary does not timely report work or other changes that can affect their benefits," the spokesperson continued.

"We continually strive to improve stewardship of our programs and reduce improper payments. While staffing losses and resource constraints have challenged our service delivery, our payment accuracy rates remain very high."

The spokesperson added that "less than 0.5 percent of Social Security payments are overpayments."

According to a 2022 report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a think tank that conducts research and policy ideas that consider the needs of low-income families, it all comes down to money. The report found that staffing is currently at its lowest level in 25 years, with 4,000 workers leaving the SSA during the coronavirus pandemic.

But it isn't as simple as just hiring new people—due to budget shortfalls, a hiring freeze was implemented.

The SSA inspector general's 2022 report reads: "SSA has approximately 59,000 full-time equivalent staff, which is about 4,000 less staff than it had 6 years ago."

That same report found that $368 million in overpayments could have been avoided if the agency had "effective controls over benefit-computation accuracy. SSA's automated systems could not compute benefit payments due in certain situations, and the Agency did not provide employees with a comprehensive tool to use when they had to manually calculate them. Without adequate automation tools, employees can make errors."

In a March 2023 budget message, SSA's acting commissioner, Kilolo Kijakazi, said the agency was "rebuilding" its workforce after ending the 2022 fiscal year "at our lowest staffing level in over 25 years." Current staffing numbers at the agency are unknown.

Angela Digeronimo, described as a "longtime Social Security worker," told Atlanta news station WSB-TV last week that "what has changed is that we don't have enough people to do the work." Jessica LaPointe, another staff member, said: "We just don't have the staff to work overpayments or underpayments."

The SSA spokesperson told Newsweek: "Improving our business processes to serve our customers better remains a top priority. We are making better use of data and technology to prevent some overpayments. We continue to invest in improvements to make it easier for people to interact with us so we can prevent overpayments. For instance, we are developing a new electronic payroll data exchange program that will automatically use wage information to adjust payment amounts when appropriate, which will help reduce improper payments and reporting responsibilities for beneficiaries."

They only briefly mentioned the staffing issue, saying: "While staffing losses and resource constraints have challenged our service delivery, our payment accuracy rates remain very high."

Another report at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, while not directly addressing the issue of incorrect payments, said that "with additional funding for the coming year, the agency could invest in the staff and technology it needs to better serve the public."

It continues: "President Biden has requested an increase of 10 percent (about $1.3 billion) in Social Security's customer service budget in 2024, which would allow the agency to begin to restore service to an acceptable level. About half of the President's request would cover fixed cost increases, such as salary, benefits, and rent increases. The remainder would be used to begin to improve SSA service—an important first step in what must be a multi-year rebuilding effort."

Have you been affected by Social Security payback demands? Email a.higham@newsweek.com