The Social Security Administration (SSA) should take additional action to reduce overpayments and prevent undue harm to Social Security recipients when recovering those overpayments, says U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
“With more than $20 billion in outstanding overpayments, it is more important than ever that the SSA develop a plan to mitigate the impact overpayment collections have on beneficiaries and put in place better quality controls to ensure that improper payments do not occur in the future,” wrote Sen. Cassidy and U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) in a Nov. 28 letter sent to Acting SSA Commissioner Dr. Kilolo Kijakazi.
The senators noted their concerns about stories from their constituents and recent reports about the financial hardship placed upon beneficiaries who are asked to quickly repay overpayments in full or whose payments are halted, reduced, or reclaimed as SSA attempts to correct improper payments, many of which occurred due to agency error, according to their letter.
Improper payments — including both over- and underpayments — are the result of a number of issues, some of which the SSA can start addressing now and others that require congressional action or more in-depth reforms, wrote Sens. Cassidy and Hassan.
For example, the agency’s fiscal year 2022 financial statement audit revealed that the Supplemental Security Insurance program — the program with the largest rate of overpayments — needs internal control improvements to limit the risk of improper payments and improve the financial integrity of the program.
“And SSA faces constraints such as low staffing levels and high staff turnover, which can contribute to improper payments,” they wrote. “We recognize improvements will not happen overnight but will take time, resources, and committed leadership by the agency to rectify long-time system deficits and fortify the program for the future — but you must prioritize these efforts.”
Sen. Cassidy and his colleague also suggested that SSA work collaboratively with beneficiaries to develop reasonable repayment plans in instances of overpayment.
“While we were encouraged to see SSA’s announcement last month that you will launch a renewed effort to prevent overpayments, including the creation of a team to review overpayment policies and procedures, more work needs to be done to address the challenges of overpayments,” they wrote.
The senators also asked Kijakazi to answer several questions, including what efforts SSA has undertaken to reduce the occurrence of overpayments, and when overpayments do occur, how SSA is working to prevent harm to program beneficiaries when the agency works to recoup overpayments.