Several members of Congress are calling on the Social Security Administration to answer for issuing billions of dollars of payments it says beneficiaries weren't entitled to receive — and then demanding the money back.
Many of the recipients are elderly, poor, or disabled and have already spent the money. They have little or no way of repaying it.
Those lawmakers and others commented in the wake of an investigation by KFF Health News and Cox Media Group that found many of the nation's poorest and most vulnerable, including people receiving disability benefits, have been called on to repay the government sums that can reach tens of thousands of dollars or more.
"The beneficiary or third-party provided the information we requested, but we failed to use the data/information to validate accuracy prior to making a payment," the agency reported. By the time the government catches mistakes, years can pass, and the amounts it says people owe can balloon to staggering levels. Social Security beneficiaries struggling to make ends meet described being overwhelmed and panic-stricken by demands that they repay money they no longer have.
In August, her monthly benefit check didn't arrive. As a result, she and her family were evicted this month, and they had to split up, she said. "I’ve been trying to call Social Security and on the phone for like an hour, just on hold every time," Eichler said."At 60 days, I still didn’t hear,” she said. “So, I called Social Security again. And they said it could take six months to a year because of so many people being involved in this mess. And I said, 'What are people supposed to do in the meantime?'"
In an interview Sept. 27, Brown, the chairman of a Senate subcommittee on Social Security, said he had taken action in the wake of the CMG-KFF Health News investigation. The Social Security Administration, which issues more than $1 trillion of payments annually, has said its overall payment accuracy is high. The agency is required by law to adjust benefits or recover debts when it establishes that someone has been overpaid, SSA spokesperson Tiggemann said in a Sept. 13 statement for the recent investigative report by KFF Health News and CMG.
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