Our stewardship responsibilities require that we recover as much of the debt owed as possible. In Fiscal Year 1999, we met our goal for both the Title II and Title XVI programs. An overpayment results when a beneficiary is paid more money than he or she is due. People become overpaid for a variety of reasons. Retirees under the age of 65 are overpaid when, for example, they work and earn more money than allowed for unreduced benefits.
Disabled beneficiaries can become overpaid as a result of medical recovery.
SSI recipients are overpaid when they have increased income or resources over the allowable limit. While this amount seems high, I would like to put it in context. When overpayments do occur, SSA uses a vigorous debt collection program. If the individual is on the benefit rolls, we recover the overpayment by withholding future monthly payments. We have a high degree of success in collecting debts owed by people on the rolls, achieving a collection rate of more than 90 percent.