Supplemental Security Income: Administrative and Program Savings Possible by Directly Accessing State Data
HEHS-96-163
Published: Aug 29, 1996. Publicly Released: Aug 29, 1996.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Social Security Administration's (SSA) use of online access to state databases on income information to determine whether it could: (1) improve the administration of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Program; (2) reduce overpayments; and (3) easily implement online access nationwide in SSA field offices.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security Administration | To prevent overpayments or detect them sooner, the Commissioner of Social Security should require claims representatives to use online access to routinely check for unreported sources of income when initial and subsequent assessments of eligibility are done, provided that it is cost-effective to do so and that the data available online pertain to the time periods covered by SSI payments. |
Closed – Not Implemented
This recommendation pertained to wages and payments from unemployment insurance (UI), and it has been superceded by GAO report number HEHS-98-75. In this subsequent report, GAO discussed a newly available data source from the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) that would permit SSA to discover undisclosed wages and UI more quickly and efficiently than would online access to state wage data. On January 2, 2001, SSA began using this new source in all field offices to detect undisclosed wages and UI.
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| Social Security Administration | To prevent overpayments or detect them sooner, the Commissioner of Social Security should develop automatic interfaces with state databases that comply with laws and standards governing computer matching, privacy, and security that can: (1) more fully automate the earnings and UI computer matches; and (2) identity additional income sources that do not currently have computer matches. |
Closed – Implemented
In 1998, SSA replaced the quarterly wage and unemmployment insurance matches it did with most states with a quarterly match using the same data, but maintained centrally by the Office of Child Support Enforcement. Also in 1998, SSA implemented a monthly match for pension income by the Office of Personnel Management and the Railroad Retirement Board.
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Topics
Administrative costsClaims processingComputer matchingComputer securityEligibility determinationsstate relationsIncome maintenance programsInformation systemsOverpaymentsSupplemental security incomeSystems compatibilityComputer programming