$7.9 Billion in Improper Social Security Payments in FY 2012

The Social Security Administration (SSA) needs to focus on "program integrity," a polite term for reducing fraud and payment errors, the agency's inspector general told Congress last week.

Reducing improper payments is one of the challenges facing the next SSA commissioner, Patrick O'Carroll, Jr., the agency's inspector general, told the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security on April 26.

In fiscal year 2012, the Social Security Administration reported $4.7 billion in improper payments in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, a 9.2 percent improper payment rate. (SSI is funded by general tax revenues, not payroll taxes. It helps elderly, blind, and/or disabled people who are poor.)
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