The U.S. government has been running up deficits and debt for years now. One of the reasons why is that it pays out money to people aren’t qualified for it.

The Social Security Administration has been caught paying out money through the SSI program to people who may make too much money. Even more appalling is this problem could’ve been corrected a decade ago.

The Daily Caller reports:


The Supplemental Security Income program is meant to support low-income earners, but federal officials often failed to consider how much recipients actually earned, according to a recent report by the SSA’s inspector general. The IG previously reported the problem twice in the past decade.

The SSI “is a needs-based program for aged, blind or disabled individuals, and recipients must meet certain income and resource limits for eligibility,” the report said.

“We estimate that SSA improperly paid approximately $64 million in SSI payments to about 38,600 SSI recipients because the agency did not consider all their earnings when it calculated SSI payment amounts,” the IG said.

The $64 million was just for one year. The inspector general has been reporting this problem as far back as 2005. If a recipient makes too much money for the month, they don’t qualify for their SSI payment.

The SSI program is riddled with fraud. There are always numerous stories of people being charged with defrauding the program.

More and more Americans are also claiming benefits under the program since they could not find work during the Great Recession.

The program saw some modest reforms enacted in October. However, much needed broader reforms of the program are likely not possible until 2021 due to a budget deal cut with Democrats.



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