Washington, D.C. – Today, Reps. Mike Carey (R-OH) and Emilia Sykes (D-OH) led several members of the Ohio congressional delegation in demanding answers from the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration over improper payments made to beneficiaries.
“Overpayments have been a problem for at least a decade — if not longer — according to our caseworkers,” said Congressman Carey. “More troubling is that SSA is now saying they might not be able to vouch for the legitimacy of how many people have been subject to overpayments. It’s time to put the American people first and curb as much error and harm to beneficiaries of Social Security as possible.”
“Older and disabled Americans who have done everything correctly when filing for Social Security benefits but received overpayments through no fault of their own should not be penalized for erroneous mistakes made by the Social Security Administration,” said Rep. Sykes. “Our seniors rely on these payments to pay their bills and put food on the table — they can’t afford for the SSA to be making life-altering errors. This letter seeks to hold the SSA accountable and ensure all seniors receive the correct payments they deserve.”
The Social Security Administration contacts over one million Americans annually to recoup funds disbursed in error to beneficiaries. Although these overpayments can take months or years to be recognized by SSA, once an overpayment is noticed, the adverse impact on Social Security beneficiaries is nearly instantaneous: elderly and disabled Americans relying on Social Security living on fixed incomes have had their benefits frozen or cut because of overpayment mistakes.
More troubling, SSA has failed to provide adequate figures to Congress about the total number of people being impacted by this issue.
Reps. Sykes and Carey sent a letter to Dr. Kilolo Kijakazi, the acting commissioner of the SSA, demanding answers as to why the problem continues to persist. Also signing on to the letter were Reps. Bob Latta (R-OH-05), Joyce Beatty (D-OH-03), Troy Balderson (R-OH-12), Greg Landsman (D-OH-01), and Rep. Max Miller (R-OH-07).
Read the letter here: