Social Security to Probe Overpayments as Demands for Money Back Sparks Fury

After sparking outrage following an investigation that found it had asked for billions of dollars back from beneficiaries, including some of the most vulnerable people in the country, the Social Security Administration (SSA) said on Wednesday that it will review its benefits overpayment procedures.

The federal agency overseeing Social Security recently came under scrutiny after several reports revealed that it was trying to reclaim billions of dollars from beneficiaries, saying they were not entitled to receive the money they had already been sent—and likely spent.

Many of the beneficiaries affected are on low incomes, on disability, or retired, and were being asked to repay thousands and tens of thousands of dollars. Some who reached out to Newsweek said they were left shocked and worried by the overpayment requests which they said they were unable to repay.

SSA benefits are paid based on your earnings record for people aged 62 or older or those with a disability who have enough work credits. For many people who are unable to work or are retired, payments form the bulk of their income.

According to data by the SSA's inspector general shared by the news agencies, the SSA received a total of $4.7 billion in overpayments in the 2022 fiscal year, while $21.6 billion remain outstanding. The agency claims back this money by reducing or stopping monthly benefit payments, intercepting federal tax refunds, or seizing wages.

Overpayment within the Social Security program can result from beneficiaries failing to comply with the system's requirements, though KFF Health News denounced that rules are hard to follow and the SSA is understaffed in relation to its workload.

A spokesperson for the SSA told Newsweek that "the review was just announced and is beginning. We don't have further updates at this time."

Another spokesperson previously 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."

"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, saying that "less than 0.5 percent of Social Security payments are overpayments."

But on Wednesday, the SSA's acting commissioner announced she's putting together a team to review the way the federal agency handles overpayments.

"Despite our high accuracy rates, I am putting together a team to review our overpayment policies and procedures to further improve how we serve our customers," Kilolo Kijakazi said, adding that she has chosen a "senior official" who'll lead the team and report directly to her.

Several lawmakers called for action on the overpayments issue with SSA, with Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio recently saying that the government "got to fix this."

"It's a management problem, and people there should be held accountable," he said during an interview.

Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida expressed his satisfaction with the probe, writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was "glad to see swift action being taken" on the issue.

Update 10/6/23, 9:25 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a comment from an SSA spokesperson.