The Social Security Administration (SSA) made around $114 million in improper payments to children and spouses of beneficiaries, the agency’s watchdog, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), said in a Sept. 18 audit report.
The Social Security Act limits the amount of benefits paid to children and spouses of retired, disabled, and deceased individuals. The maximum amount that can be paid to children or spouses of a beneficiary combined is referred to as the “family maximum,” said the report.
If the total monthly benefits paid exceed the family maximum limit, SSA is obliged to reduce such payments to bring them in line with the threshold, it said….