The Social Safety Administration has demanded a reimbursement from greater than 2 million folks a 12 months — greater than twice as many individuals as the pinnacle of the company disclosed at an October congressional listening to.

That is in keeping with a doc KFF Well being Information and Cox Media Group obtained by a Freedom of Info Act request.

Performing Commissioner of the Social Safety Administration Kilolo Kijakazi learn aloud from the doc through the listening to however repeatedly ignored a whole class of beneficiaries displayed on the paper as properly.

The doc signifies the fallout from Social Safety overpayments and clawbacks is far wider than Kijakazi acknowledged beneath direct questioning from a Home Methods and Means subcommittee that oversees the federal company.

In a press release for this text, SSA spokesperson Nicole Tiggemann described the numbers of individuals Kijakazi supplied in her testimony and people she ignored as “unverified.”

“We can not verify the accuracy of the knowledge, and we’ve knowledgeable the committee,” Tiggemann mentioned.

The numbers “have been gathered rapidly,” the spokesperson mentioned. Social Safety techniques “weren’t designed to simply decide this info,” she mentioned.

After the October listening to, KFF Well being Information and Cox Media Group despatched Tiggemann a number of emails asking her to make clear whether or not the annual numbers Kijakazi gave to Congress included all Social Safety applications or only a subset. She wouldn’t say.

For solutions, the information organizations a number of weeks in the past filed a FOIA request.

Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), a member of the subcommittee, mentioned in an interview that he questioned if the company “deliberately deflated the numbers to not make it look as dangerous as it’s.”

“Perhaps we must always have her come again in for an additional listening to, put her beneath oath,” and ask her “why she wasn’t being utterly upfront in regards to the numbers,” Steube mentioned.

Steube mentioned that, when he heard Kijakazi’s testimony, he thought she was giving the subcommittee the whole numbers.

At concern is the scope of an issue that has terrified many Social Safety beneficiaries and plunged them into monetary misery.

As KFF Well being Information and Cox Media Group tv stations collectively reported in September, the federal government has been attempting to recuperate billions of {dollars} from beneficiaries it says it overpaid. In lots of circumstances, the overpayments have been the federal government’s fault.

However, even in circumstances the place the beneficiary did not adjust to necessities, years can move earlier than the federal government catches the error and sends a discover demanding compensation, typically inside 30 days. Within the meantime, the quantity the beneficiary owes the federal government can develop to tens of 1000’s of {dollars} or extra — excess of folks residing month to month may seemingly repay.

The folks affected could also be retired, disabled, or struggling to get by on solely minimal revenue.

The variety of folks experiencing overpayments is vital to know as a result of overpayments may cause loads of hurt, mentioned Kathleen Romig of the Middle on Price range and Coverage Priorities, who labored in analysis on the Social Safety Administration and has since spent 20 years within the area of Social Safety coverage.

“It ought to be a really excessive precedence on the company to provide extra dependable numbers,” Romig mentioned.

The Social Safety Administration has lengthy quantified overpayments in {dollars} fairly than numbers of individuals affected. For instance, the company’s newest annual monetary report says it recovered greater than $4.9 billion in overpayments within the fiscal 12 months that ended Sept. 30 and ended that interval with a cumulative uncollected overpayment stability of $23 billion.

In September, SSA’s Tiggemann mentioned, “We don’t report on the variety of debtors.”

In subsequent interviews with the information organizations, some lawmakers mentioned the company owed the general public that info. “If they are not telling you, I can guarantee you that is a query that I’ll ask in a listening to,” mentioned Rep. Mike Carey of Ohio, the No. 2 Republican on the subcommittee.

At an Oct. 18 listening to, Carey introduced up the variety of debtors and informed Kijakazi, “I feel it is one thing that we actually must resolve.”

Then he requested, “Do we’ve quite a lot of how many individuals have been impacted by these overpayments?”

“We do,” Kijakazi replied. “And I am, I checked out that earlier than I got here. I am, I am sorry. I am not pondering of the quantity proper now. However I can present that.”

Carey pressed additional.

“How many individuals are receiving overpayment notices in a 12 months?” he requested.

At that time, Tom Klouda, a deputy SSA commissioner, acquired up from his seat behind Kijakazi and handed her a chunk of paper.

Studying from the web page, she gave two exact numbers: 1,028,389 for the 2022 fiscal 12 months and 986,912 for the 2023 fiscal 12 months.

When Carey requested if 986,912 “people have been getting these letters within the mail saying that there was an overpayment and that they wanted to contact you guys and arrange a fee plan,” Kijakazi mentioned, “That is proper.”

“Looks like an terrible lot,” Carey mentioned.

Below additional questioning from Carey, Kijakazi repeated the numbers. She mentioned they have been “beneath Social Safety” and “for Social Safety.”

Subsequently, the company declined to make clear what Kijakazi meant by that. Replying to a sequence of emails, Tiggemann wouldn’t say whether or not the numbers included all of the Social Safety applications.

As an alternative, she implied the company did not know.

“Once more, our overpayment techniques weren’t designed to simply decide the knowledge you are requesting,” she wrote on Nov. 29.

The doc obtained through FOIA reveals that the numbers Kijakazi gave on the listening to coated solely two of the three Social Safety profit applications. They didn’t cowl Supplemental Safety Revenue, or SSI, which supplies monetary help for individuals who have little or no revenue or belongings and are blind, in any other case disabled, or at the least 65 years outdated.

On the paper that the deputy commissioner handed Kijakazi, overpayment counts for SSI appeared immediately under the numbers she learn aloud, they usually have been greater: 1,118,648 folks in fiscal 2022 and 1,189,642 in fiscal 2023.

The doc is titled partially, “Overpayment Primary Details.”

Within the doc, the numbers Kijakazi learn on the listening to, which spherical to about 1 million folks a 12 months, are labeled “T2.” Title II of the Social Safety Act covers two applications: Incapacity Insurance coverage, or DI, and Previous-Age and Survivors Insurance coverage, or OASI.

The numbers Kijakazi omitted are labeled “T16.” Title XVI of the Social Safety Act covers SSI.

Inside the Social Safety Administration, personnel use the time period T16 when referring to SSI and T2 when referring to OASI and DI mixed, mentioned Romig, the previous company researcher.

It’s attainable that some individuals who obtained overpayment notices by SSI additionally obtained notices by the opposite applications, resulting in overlap between the numbers Kijakazi learn on the listening to and people she did not present, Romig mentioned.

Within the 2023 fiscal 12 months, the company paid SSI advantages to a median of seven.5 million recipients a month. Measured in {dollars}, the overpayment fee in SSI has been working about 8%, in keeping with the company’s newest annual monetary report. That is a lot larger than the half a p.c overpayment fee for OASI and DI mixed.

A written assertion Kijakazi submitted to the Home subcommittee included a clue that the numbers of individuals she gave the committee did not present a whole image. Within the assertion, dated Oct. 18, Kijakazi used the time period “the Social Safety program itself” to explain Incapacity Insurance coverage and Previous-Age and Survivors Insurance coverage — however not SSI.

A press launch the Methods and Means Committee issued after the listening to made no such distinction. “One Million Individuals a 12 months Affected by Social Safety’s Improper Cost Highlights Want for Reform,” it mentioned.

The doc obtained through FOIA included different new info. It confirmed that comparatively few beneficiaries contest overpayment notices and that many appeals or requests for waivers fail.

Weeks after KFF Well being Information and CMG tv stations revealed and broadcast the primary tales of their sequence, the Social Safety chief ordered a overview of overpayments.

In her assertion Dec. 5, the company spokesperson mentioned that, as a part of the overview, the Social Safety Administration is “taking a look at how greatest to tell the Company, the general public, and Congress about this workload.”

Do you may have an expertise with Social Safety overpayments you’d wish to share? Click on right here to contact our reporting group.