Social Security Payments Prone To Errors

Human error is leading Social Security to overpay or underpay a significant number of beneficiaries with disabilities, an inspector general’s report indicates.

In a review of so-called manual computation practices at the Social Security Administration, federal officials found that mistakes are frequent when staffers manually calculate the benefits a person should receive from Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, a benefits program for those with disabilities.

Manual computations can be triggered when a recipient’s situation changes. For example, if a person moves and their living expenses are altered or if they experience a change in income.

However, a report from the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General found major flaws in the manual computation process. As a result, they project that more than 14,000 beneficiaries were overpaid and over 18,000 were underpaid between July 2006 and June 2008. What’s more computations often were not reviewed by a second staffer, as is mandated.

Basic monthly payments for a single SSI recipient are $674 monthly or $1,011 monthly for a couple.

Phasing Out Paper Checks

Social Security will stop issuing paper checks in 2013 at which point all payments will be made electronically, the Treasury Department said Monday.

New enrollees to Social Security programs will no longer be able to receive benefits via paper check beginning March 1, 2011. Current participants in the government benefits programs will have until March 1, 2013 to switch.

Subsequently all Social Security payments will be deposited electronically to a person’s bank account or to a beneficiary’s government-issued debit card. The special bank cards — known as Direct Express debit cards — were introduced in 2008 in order to allow beneficiaries who lack bank accounts to receive payments electronically.

The changes apply to those who receive Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, benefits, which assist Americans with disabilities, in addition to a host of other government programs.

The new requirement is designed to cut mailing costs and increase reliability and financial security for recipients, Treasury officials said. Already 85 percent of those who receive federal benefits are paid electronically.