Social Security's inspector general has reported on
disability overpayments.
The summary:
Our review of 1,532 beneficiaries in current pay status as of
October 2003 found that over a 10-year period (from October 2003
through February 2014), SSA assessed overpayments for
44.5 percent of sampled beneficiaries. Based on the sample, we
estimated
- SSA assessed overpayments totaling about $16.8 billion
between October 2003 and February 2014 for approximately
4 million beneficiaries who were in current payment status in
October 2003;
- SSA recovered about $8.1 billion of the $16.8 billion in
overpayments it assessed; and
- SSA prevented about $8 billion in overpayments between
October 2003 and February 2014 to approximately 1 million
beneficiaries in current pay status in October 2003 by
suspending monthly payments.
Additionally, the overpayment rate in Fiscal Year 2004 was
3.1 percent of all benefits paid that year.
SSA reviewed the draft report and provided technical comments
regarding unavoidable overpayments related to medical
improvement, which we incorporated into the body of this report.
