Summary

In response to frequent allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse in the supplemental security income (SSI) program, Congress has become concerned that ineligible persons may be receiving disability benefits. For example, GAO confirmed that ineligible, non-English-speaking applicants were illegally obtaining benefits through the use of middlemen, who provide translation or other services for a fee to help individuals apply for benefits. (See GAO/HEHS-95-116, August 1995.) Concerns about this program also stem from sharp rises in the number of SSI recipients in recent years. This report examines the Social Security Administration's (SSA) strategy for conducting legally required continuing disability reviews on SSI recipients. GAO answers the following questions: What steps is SSA taking to conduct these reviews in fiscal years 1996 through 1998? What resources has SSA committed to meeting this requirement, and what additional resources, if any, are needed? How does SSA select recipients for SSI continuing disability reviews? What are the potential benefits of conducting these reviews on the SSI population? What options exist for improving the review process?

GAO found that: (1) SSA planned to conduct required CDR on about 118,000 SSI recipients in fiscal year (FY) 1996; (2) SSA also planned to conduct an additional 100,000 CDR on SSI recipients that were not legally required; (3) as of June 1996, SSA had completed about 60 percent of the required CDR; (4) other competing priorities may make it difficult for SSA to conduct all required SSI CDR after FY 1996; (5) in FY 1996, SSA limited its selection for CDR to those recipients for whom medical improvement is either expected or possible; (6) SSA estimates that conducting CDR will result in removing only about 5 percent of SSI recipients from the rolls, but without CDR, the number of ineligible recipients will likely increase over time; (7) SSA estimates that conducting CDR on SSI adult recipients for whom medical improvement is expected or possible results in about $3 in federal program savings for every $1 spent conducting CDR; and (8) SSA needs to establish less rigid requirements for determining who should be scheduled for CDR, ensure that contact is made with all SSI recipients, and develop a legislative proposal to obtain the authority needed to extend this new process to all recipients.