Once a recipient begins receiving benefits, SSA is required to periodically conduct Continuing Disability Reviews (CDR) to determine whether a recipient’s condition remains disabling. SSA Pays Inadequate Attention to Verifying Recipients’ Financial Eligibility

To correctly determine an individual’s initial and continuing financial eligibility, SSA needs accurate and timely information because it is much easier to prevent overpayments than to recover them. This puts SSI at risk because it collects only about 15 percent of outstanding overpayments. SSA’s processes and procedures for determining disability have placed the SSI program at particular risk for fraud, waste, and abuse. Our work has shown, however, that SSA has not placed adequate emphasis on CDRs of SSI cases. During the past decade, the proportion of middle-aged SSI recipients has steadily increased. The Congress has also put forth several proposals in these areas. They have also served to compromise the integrity of the program and reinforce public perceptions that the SSI program pays benefits to too many people for too long. Our work has shown that SSI’s vulnerability is due both to problems in program design and inadequate SSA management attention to the program. Revising SSA’s approach to managing the program will require sustained attention and direction at the highest levels of the agency as well as actively seeking the cooperation of the Congress in improving the program’s operations and eligibility rules. Related GAO Products

Social Security Disability: Improvements Needed to Continuing Disability Review Process (GAO/HEHS-97-1, Oct. 16, 1996). Supplemental Security Income: Some Recipients Transfer Valuable Resources to Qualify for Benefits (GAO/HEHS-96-79, Apr. Each day, GAO issues a list of newly available reports and testimony.
Why GAO Did This Study

GAO discussed the Social Security Administration's (SSA) Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program and GAO's decision to designate the program one of its high-risk areas.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) the SSI program has had significant problems in determining initial and continuing financial eligibility because of the agency's reliance on individuals' own reports of their income and resources and failure to thoroughly check this information; (2) moreover, the judgmental nature of SSA's disability determination process and SSA's past failure to adequately review SSI recipients to determine whether they remain disabled have also exposed the program to fraud, waste, and abuse; (3) SSA is at risk of paying some SSI recipients benefits for too long because it has not adequately addressed their special vocational rehabilitation needs or developed an agencywide strategy for helping recipients who can enter the workforce; (4) the Congress has recently made several changes that address program eligibility issues and increase the frequency of SSA's continuing eligibility reviews; (5) SSA has also begun addressing its program vulnerabilities and has made the prevention of fraud and abuse a part of its plan for rebuilding public confidence in the agency; (6) however, GAO's concerns about underlying SSI program vulnerabilities and the level of management attention devoted to these vulnerabilities continue; and (7) as part of GAO's high-risk work, it is continuing to evaluate the underlying causes of long-standing SSI problems and the actions necessary to address them.