Social Security Administration

Budget, Performance and Financial Snapshot Fiscal Year 2008

Who We Are

Mission: The Social Security Administration runs one of the Nation?s largest entitlement programs ? the Retirement, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program. In doing so, we touch the lives of virtually every individual in America and provide them support at many critical junctures of their lives. We also administer the Supplemental Security Income program, which provides financial support for aged, blind, or disabled adults and children with limited income and resources. Combined, we pay 60 million individuals almost $650 billion in benefits annually. In addition to these two programs, we assist individuals in applying for Medicare and food stamps and provide service delivery support for Medicaid and Railroad Retirement programs. We also take and process claims and appeals for premium subsidy assistance under the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit program, and determine individuals' continuing entitlement to these subsidies.

Organization: Our current organizational structure is designed to provide timely, accurate, and responsive service to the public. We deliver services through a nationwide network of over 1,400 offices that include field offices, regional offices, card centers, teleservice centers, processing centers, hearing offices, and the Appeals Council. We also have a presence in U.S. embassies around the globe. Field offices and card centers are the primary points for face-to-face contact with the public. Teleservice centers offer National 800 Number telephone service (1-800-772-1212). Processing centers perform a wide-range of workloads and handle 800 Number calls. The hearing offices and the Appeals Council decide appeals of Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income payment determinations. Additionally, the public can conduct business and obtain information via the Internet at our website www.socialsecurity.gov. SSA's Organizational Chart is available at http://www.ssa.gov/org/ssachart.pdf

Personnel: Most of our 62,000 employees deliver direct service to the public or directly support the services provided by front-line workers. Additionally, we depend on the work of about 15,000 individuals employed by our State and territorial partners, the Disability Determination Services, who help us process our disability workload. For the public, we are the "face of the government." The rich diversity of our employees mirrors the public we serve.

Budgetary Resources:


Budget Snapshot

Total Spending FY 2005-2009
Total Outlays
 Mandatory $554,016 $578,246 $614,249 $648,608 $684,400
 Discretionary $8,896 $9,142 $9,171 $9,648 $10,241
Total $562,912 $587,388 $623,420 $658,256 $694,641
$ in millions
Top 5 Programs By Budget
  Top 5 Programs
  Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Social Security Disability Insurance Supplemental Security Income Hospital Insurance Program (Medicare Part A) Supplementary Medical Insurance (Medicare Part B)
2008 $2,559 $2,420 $3,038 $733 $826
2009 $2,715 $2,518 $3,177 $947 $1,043
$ in millions

Performance Snapshot

Accomplishments: In FY 2008, we implemented a plan to eliminate the hearings backlog by FY 2013. Although the number of pending hearings increased in FY 2008, we processed over 16,000 more hearings than our FY 2008 goal of 559,000 and succeeded in processing 99.8 percent of hearings pending over 900 days, our oldest cases. We also processed 4.2 million retirement and survivor claims and simplified our online retirement application to accommodate this growing segment of the population. As good stewards, we ensured that we paid individuals correct benefit amounts by conducting more than 1.2 million Supplemental Security Income redeterminations and over 1 million continuing disability reviews. We issued 148.6 million Social Security Statements to assist individuals in their financial planning, redesigned our website, and introduced an online Retirement Estimator. Additionally, we issued over 18 million Social Security cards and credited almost 270 million earnings items to individuals' records.

Challenges: We must eliminate our hearings backlogs and improve the speed and quality of our disability process. Additionally, we need to improve our retiree and other core services and preserve the public's trust in our programs. To meet our human capital challenges, we must attract and retain a diverse workforce to offset the influx of upcoming employee retirements within our own workforce. Our information technology infrastructure also presents numerous challenges, such as replacing and modernizing our aging computer systems, automating our growing workloads, and offering more online service delivery channels. To help ensure Americans of every age understand the importance of preparing for the future, we will expand our outreach efforts to encourage saving.
Financial Snapshot
Clean Opinion on Financial Statements Yes
Timely Financial Reporting Yes Material Weaknesses 0
Improper Payment Rate N/A Total Assets $2,414,680
Total Liabilities $87,188 Net Cost of Operations $658,391
$ in millions
  Footnote:The Social Security Administration administers the Old Age and Survivors Insurance, Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs. In addition, we support the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in administering their programs, including the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance programs. However, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services outlay the benefit payments for their programs.

Summary of Social Security Administration Ratings for Fiscal Year 2008

 
                        FY 2008 Performance
Results per Strategic Goal
  Met/Exceeded     Not met but improved over prior years
  Not met target     Data not yet available
Budget per Strategic Goal
($ in millions)
Strategic Goal: To deliver high-quality, citizen-centered service
 
Sample chart
          
2008 Actual = $8,007
Performance Measure(s)* 2006 Results 2007 Results 2008 Target 2008 Results 2009 Target
Minimize average processing time for initial disability claims to provide timely decisions N/A N/A 107 days 106 days   103 days
Achieve budgeted goal for SSA hearings processed 558,978 547,951 559,000 575,380   644,000
Process all Retirement and Survivors Insurance claims receipts up to the budgeted level N/A 101% 100% 101%   100%
Strategic Goal: To protect the integrity of Social Security programs through superior stewardship
 
Sample chart
          
2008 Actual = $1,446
Performance Measure(s)* 2006 Results 2007 Results 2008 Target 2008 Results 2009 Target
Process Supplemental Security Income non-disability redeterminations to reduce improper payments N/A 1,038,948 1,200,000 1,220,664   1,486,000
Process periodic continuing disability reviews to determine continuing entitlement based on disability to help ensure payment accuracy 1,337,638 764,852 1,065,000 1,091,303   1,149,000
Strategic Goal: To achieve sustainable solvency and ensure Social Security programs meet the needs of current and future generations
 
Sample chart
          
2008 Actual = $137
Performance Measure(s)* 2006 Results 2007 Results 2008 Target 2008 Results 2009 Target
Provide support to the Administration and Congress in developing legislative proposals and implementing reforms to achieve sustainable solvency for Social Security Goal Achieved Goal Achieved Conduct Analysis Goal Achieved   Conduct Analysis
Strategic Goal: To strategically manage and align staff to support the mission of the agency
 
Sample chart
          
2008 Actual = $426
Performance Measure(s)* 2006 Results 2007 Results 2008 Target 2008 Results 2009 Target
Enhance SSA's recruitment program to support future workforce needs N/A N/A Establish Baseline Completed   Implement Plan
  * This measure was selected from a number of performance measures aimed at the specific strategic goal