Social Security Owes Claimants $445 Million

[An] underpayment is any monthly benefit amount due an entitled beneficiary that has not been paid. We found that SSA needed to improve its controls and procedures to ensure underpayments were appropriately paid on behalf of terminated beneficiaries. Based on a random sample of 300 underpayments, we determined that SSA needed to take corrective actions to (1) pay $177,184 in underpayments payable to 180 eligible beneficiaries and individuals and (2) remove $44,214 in erroneous underpayments from the MBR [Master Beneficiary Record] for 49 terminated beneficiaries. As a result, we estimate there are $358.7 million in underpayments payable to 391,844 eligible beneficiaries and individuals, and $86.7 million in erroneous underpayments on the MBR for 109,712 terminated beneficiaries