Investigators: 36K got improper disability pay
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER Associated Press on Sep 15, 2013, at 2:42 AM Updated on 9/15/13 at 6:53 AM
US & World
Washington Navy Yard gunman Aaron Alexis complained to police in Rhode Island last month that people were talking to him through the walls and ceilings of his hotel rooms and sending microwave vibrations into his body.
The gunman in the mass shootings at the Washington Navy Yard, Aaron Alexis, had a history of violent outbursts, and was at least twice accused of firing guns in anger.
WASHINGTON - Social Security made $1.3 billion in potentially improper disability payments to people who had jobs when they were supposed to be unable to work, congressional investigators said in a report Friday.
The Government Accountability Office estimated that 36,000 workers got improper payments from December 2010 to January 2013.
The numbers represent less than 1 percent of beneficiaries and less than 1 percent of disability payments made during the time frame. But GAO said the overpayments reveal weaknesses in Social Security's procedures for policing the system.
"The report lays out clear, common-sense steps that the agency can and should take in order to avoid improper payments," said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "However ... Congress must also do its part and provide needed resources and access to basic anti-fraud data to the Social Security Administration."
The Social Security Administration said its accuracy rate for disability payments is more than 99 percent. But the agency noted that even small errors translate into big numbers.
"We are planning to do an investigation, and we will recoup any improper payments from beneficiaries," Social Security spokesman Mark Hinkle said.
More than 8.2 million disabled workers received disability payments in December 2010, a figure that has grown to nearly 9 million. Last year, the agency paid out $137 billion in disability payments.
Before people can receive disability benefits, there is a 5-month waiting period in which they can, in general, earn no more than about $1,000 a month. The waiting period is to ensure that beneficiaries have long-term disabilities. Using a federal wage database, investigators checked whether a sample of disability beneficiaries had worked and earned significant wages during the waiting period, the report said. They found that most of the improper payments went to people who worked during the five months they waited for payments to begin.
US & World
Washington Navy Yard gunman Aaron Alexis complained to police in Rhode Island last month that people were talking to him through the walls and ceilings of his hotel rooms and sending microwave vibrations into his body.
The gunman in the mass shootings at the Washington Navy Yard, Aaron Alexis, had a history of violent outbursts, and was at least twice accused of firing guns in anger.
