The Social Security Administration (SSA) recently made a serious mistake that affected some recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI). This federal program provides financial support to people with disabilities and low-income senior citizens.
The error occurred last week when the SSA mistakenly told some people that their SSI payments had stopped. The mistake was discovered after the agency’s website showed that these individuals were “currently not receiving payments,” according to an April 7 letter from Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Ron Wyden of Oregon, and Mark Kelly of Arizona. They sent the letter to Lee Dudek, the acting commissioner of the SSA.
In addition to showing that the payments had stopped, the SSA’s website also displayed missing payment history and other important information about SSI benefits. This is confusing and worrisome for many people who rely on SSI payments to support themselves. The senators said that they received several reports from constituents about this issue.
Nancy Altman, the president of Social Security Works, an advocacy group for Social Security programs, expressed her shock at the situation. “In my 50 years of work on Social Security and SSI, I have never heard of this happening before,” she said. This shows just how rare and unusual this problem is.
Chris Hubbard, a woman from Westborough, Massachusetts, shared her experience with CBS MoneyWatch. Her 37-year-old disabled son depends on SSI to pay for his group home. She first found out about the problem on March 31 when people in a Facebook group for mothers of autistic children started talking about it.
After reading the posts, Chris checked her son’s account and was alarmed to find the same message saying that her son was no longer receiving payments. Worried, she stayed up all night refreshing the page, hoping for an update. By 5 a.m., the message still hadn’t changed.
Chris was extremely stressed by the situation. “I was continuing to be worried because the message was still on the site, saying this beneficiary doesn’t receive payments,” she said. However, the next morning, Chris checked her son’s account again and found the correct information, with his payment deposited on April 1, as expected. Despite the error being resolved, Chris and her husband did not receive any communication from the SSA explaining what had happened or apologizing for the mistake.
The Hubbards decided not to call the SSA because getting through to customer service often takes a long time. They were also concerned that the mistake could happen again. Tom Hubbard, Chris’s husband, expressed his worries: “There’s great concern about this happening again, and why did it happen in the first place?” He feared that more problems could arise, especially with recent cuts to the SSA’s workforce.
The Social Security Administration responded to CBS MoneyWatch, explaining that the error only affected SSI recipients. The SSA confirmed that Social Security and Medicare-only beneficiaries were not impacted by this issue. The agency also stated that the problem had been resolved within 24 hours and that all Social Security user logins could now access the correct benefit information.
While the SSA explained that the issue was fixed quickly, the senators who raised concerns about the error warned that the problem was deeply troubling. They pointed out that SSI recipients are among the most vulnerable groups in society.
These are often low-income seniors and people with disabilities who rely on their benefits to survive. If their payments are delayed or disrupted, it can cause major hardship for them. The senators wrote in their letter that even small disruptions to SSI benefits can have serious consequences for those who depend on them.
The error with SSI benefits has raised further concerns about the future of the Social Security Administration. Some experts believe the problem could be the result of changes happening within the SSA. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was recently set up to streamline and improve government agencies, has faced criticism for its handling of the situation. Musk, known for his controversial statements, has suggested that the Social Security system is full of fraud and even called it “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”
In addition to the error with SSI payments, the SSA has also faced several website outages in recent weeks. Some outages lasted as long as a day, according to a report from the Washington Post on April 7. The SSA explained that these outages were brief, averaging about 20 minutes each, but the frequent disruptions have raised doubts about the agency’s ability to handle the demands of millions of beneficiaries.
Maria Freese, a senior Social Security expert at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said that before Elon Musk and DOGE took over, the SSA’s website rarely had major crashes or glitches. “Certainly, there were no messages going out telling people erroneously that their benefits were discontinued,” she said. This suggests that the recent changes at the SSA may be causing more problems for recipients.
The maximum monthly payment for SSI in 2025 is $967 for a single individual. SSI is designed to help people with disabilities and seniors who have little or no income. Most people who receive SSI benefits live below the poverty line. According to the Roosevelt Institute, disruptions to these benefits can cause extreme financial strain for recipients, who often already live in precarious economic conditions.
The senators who raised concerns about the glitch pointed out that the people most affected by the error are already struggling financially. They emphasized the risks of continued disruptions to Social Security benefits and urged the SSA to ensure that these kinds of mistakes do not happen again in the future. “These recent reports of disruption—or threats of disruption—of Social Security benefits is deeply troubling,” the senators wrote in their letter.
The SSI issue reminds us of how critical it is for the Social Security Administration to maintain a reliable and efficient system. For many recipients, Social Security benefits are their primary source of income. When glitches or errors occur, they can cause significant stress and uncertainty for some of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens.
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