A study conducted by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for Social Security found that nearly half of sampled disability beneficiaries were earning too much employment income to be eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).
This is problematic not only for Social Security and taxpayers, but also for the beneficiaries themselves. When this occurs it is considered an overpayment and Social Security is likely to ask for the amount of overpayment to be repaid. The OIG sampled 200 beneficiaries, and determined 97 were earning over income guidelines for SSDI benefits. Of the 97 people, Social Security paid benefits to 78, which resulted in overpayments of $1.3 million. Exactly $823,000 was overpaid due to the beneficiaries’ failure to report work income, the other $446,000 was due to the agency’s processing delays and errors.
To correct these mistakes and make sure they do not occur in the future, the OIG made five recommendations to Social Security. According to the OIG report, Social Security is already in the process of attempting to correct the problem. “SSA had begun developing new systems based on recent legislation and implemented a new program to reduce work-related overpayments,” the report read.
Recommendation 1
Consider taking steps to ensure beneficiaries are aware of their option to voluntarily suspend benefits when reported earnings are likely to result in an overpayment.
Recommendation 2
Determine the feasibility of developing automated alerts to management and technicians in eWork to ensure timely continuing disability review (CDR) case assignments and follow-up on aged cases.
Recommendation 3
Review the 18 cases for which we identified processing mistakes and take necessary corrective actions.
Recommendation 4
Provide refresher training to ensure staff completes work CDRs accurately, thus ensuring it identifies all incorrect payments and minimizes overpayments to the extent possible.
Recommendation 5
Monitor its ongoing initiatives to minimize reliance on beneficiaries self-reporting earnings.
