The Social Security Administration (SSA) recently announced plans to distribute over $900 million in delayed payments for disabled individuals eligible under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. The substantial sum will recompense eligible individuals who were incorrectly paid less over the past decade.
The origins of these underpayments, which total approximately $209.1 million across 81,000 recipients, are manifold and include issues such as errors in payment calculation and the failing to obtain necessary information from recipients. Although such mistakes harm the beneficiaries and exacerbate financial instability, the SSA is actively combating these issues.
Steps to address these issues include perpetuating transparency and accuracy for financial aid allocations, resolving problems with peer reviews, dedicated account operations, and improving technology and documentation policies. Measures such as increased auditing and superior quality control are also being implemented to further mitigate these lapses.
The SSA believes improvements to these processes will significantly reduce the number of improper payments, and by association, lessen financial uncertainty for those dependent on these funds. However, achieving this goal requires consistent efforts from both the agency and the recipients.
The SSA revealed the primary cause of underpayment during the 2019 fiscal year was inability to validate beneficiaries’ eligibility.
SSA rectifying underpayments with major distribution
This led to roughly $623 million in withheld disability benefits. In the same period, administrative errors caused about $41 million in SSI benefits to go unpaid.
Arrears of benefits for SSI recipients rose to an alarming $724 million within a year. The SSA has been criticized for issues with incorrect payments and is currently working on rectifying these problems to reduce the number of incorrect payments in the future.
In response to the criticism, the SSA stopped the policy of seizing 100 percent of overpaid beneficiaries’ monthly social security benefits in the event of non-compliance with SSA’s repayment demands. This move indicates a significant improvement in the SSA’s effort to provide due amounts to each entitled person. The SSA plans to implement new measures to reduce overpayments and improve their resolution process. Yet, while these updates are promising, continuous efforts are necessary to fully resolve the issues at hand.
