The Social Security Administration says it has made some progress
in paying millions of Americans what they are owed.
For almost a year.
Our CMG team of reporters partnering with KFF Health News
uncovered millions in overpayments with SSA demanding the money back.
But that's not all.
We also uncovered claims of people being underpaid as well.
Channel 9 Investigative Reporter Shannon Butler has more on what
the agency has done to make people whole again.
The Social Security Administration says they have released millions of
dollars to Social Security recipients who were underpaid.
We told you last year while investigating the overpayments at
the SSA, we found people were also being underpaid.
Now the Social Security Administration commissioner says he's made some
headway.
As quickly as we possibly can.
The SSA says as of June of 2024, we have
released $901,000,000 in SSI underpayments, which includes 209 Point 1,000,000
of underpayments to roughly 81,000 people, our oldest and highest
priority cases who are counting on SSI as a vital
lifeline.
But that did not include Ramona Harris.
We introduced you to her back in December.
She was waiting to see if she had any recourse
for the $18,000 she's owed.
Harris wasn't overpaid, she was underpaid.
I'm 75 years old now, you know, and, and I
have, we have needs that we just, we can't take
care of right now because we're living month to month.
That 18,000 plus dollars could help an awful lot just
for those rainy days and we work for it.
In 2023, a monthly average of 7.4 million people with
disabilities who have little or no income or resources received
approximately $61 billion in federal SSI payments.
For fiscal years 2019 through 2023, underpayments represented less than
1% of all SSI payments.
But the commissioner says although that number is small, he
acknowledged that underpayments can cause significant hardships.
This isn't just about the numbers, it's about people.
So how did they do it?
The agency updated a policy that required underpayments over $5000
to be reviewed by another employee.
Now, underpayments less than $15,000 can be released without a
peer review.
This policy change means the time it takes for the
SSI recipient to receive their first installment payment is now
dramatic, automatically reduced.
But Harris is still waiting for hers and hopes she's
next on that list in Orlando.
Shannon Butler, Channel 9 Eyewitness News And Harris has received
an e-mail from SSA denying her appeal.
The decision was made before the new commissioner was appointed.
Harris will continue to fight as the SSA is overhauling
its policies and procedures.