Agency Program Information – SSI

Agency Accountable Official

Retirement, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (RSDI)

Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

High-Dollar Improper Payments

Recovery Efforts – RSDI and SSI

Administrative Payments

What's New

Program Integrity, Payment Accuracy, Service Delivery, Program Access, Accountability

Background

The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program pays benefits to aged, blind, and disabled persons who have limited income and resources. For more detailed information on the SSI program, please visit the following link:

Supplemental Security Income

We report improper payment findings (both overpayments and underpayments) from our stewardship reviews of the nonmedical aspects of the program on an annual basis.

Between fiscal years (FY) 2006 – 2010:

We paid over $226.5 billion* to SSI recipients.
- $19.1 billion (8.4%) was estimated to have been overpaid.
- $4.3 billion (1.9%) was estimated to have been underpaid.

* Total Payments represent estimated program outlays while conducting our payment accuracy reviews and may vary from actual outlays.

Major Causes of SSI Improper Payments

The graph below indicates the major causes of of improper payments (overpayments and underpayments) in the SSI program using OMB's three categories of error:

Pie Chart -Major Causes of SSI Improper Payments for FY 2010 - Details outlined in table below.

Major Causes of SSI Improper Payments in FY 2010
	% of Improper Payments	Major Types of Errors
Administrative and Documentation Errors	12%	Incorrect computations, misapplication of an income or resource exclusion, and wrong month of change
Authentication and Medical Necessity Errors	33%	Existence or changes to living arrangements and In-kind Support and Maintenance (ISM)
Verification and Local Administration Errors	55%	Detection of unreported financial accounts and wages

The following tables indicate the major causes of SSI overpayments and underpayments, for FYs 2006 ‑ 2010, as determined by our payment accuracy reviews:

Major Causes of SSI Overpayments FY 2006 – FY 2010
Financial Accounts	The applicant or recipient (or his or her parent or spouse) has financial accounts that exceed the allowable resource limits ($2,000 individual/$3,000 couple) that may result in periods of SSI program ineligibility.
Wages	The recipient (or his or her parent or spouse) has actual wages that exceed the wage amount used to calculate payment.
In-Kind Support and Maintenance	In-kind support and maintenance is unearned income in the form of food or shelter received. The error results when the recipient's amount of in-kind support and maintenance is more than the amount used to calculate payment.

Major Causes of SSI Underpayments FY 2006 ‑ FY 2010
Living Arrangement “A”	We paid the recipient as “living in the household of another” when he or she is living in his or her own household for SSI purposes and, therefore, due a higher payment amount.
Wages	The recipient (or his or her parent or spouse) has actual wages that are less than the wage amount used to calculate payment.
In-Kind Support and Maintenance	In-kind support and maintenance is unearned income in the form of food or shelter received. The error results when the recipient's amount of in-kind support and maintenance is less than the amount used to calculate payment.