By Samuel Gonzalez
Many people in the United States could be receiving less money from Social Security without realizing it. A new federal report revealed that Mistakes Made by the Social Security Administration (SSA) Led to Incorrect Payments for Thousands of Beneficiaries who depend on that income to cover basic expenses such as rent, food and medicine.
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) investigation found that At least 8,618 widows and widowers received lower benefits than what they were actually entitled to.. The report estimates that average losses were approximately $5,800 per personadding up to more than $50 million in underpayments.
The problem arose because Some SSA employees did not correctly apply a formula called Widow(er)s Indexing Computation (WINDEX).used to calculate survivor benefits. This formula adjusts the deceased worker’s income and determines how much the surviving spouse should receive each month.
When the calculation was omitted or performed incorrectly, many beneficiaries ended up with smaller checks. The most affected cases were those of people whose husband or wife died before the age of 62 and those files processed manually, where there is a greater possibility of administrative errors.
“As soon as we received the audit report from the Office of the Frequent Inspector, SSA began the process to implement a reminder to field office employees about the correct procedures for calculating widow’s benefits,” an SSA spokesperson told Newsweek.
The report also detected another important problem: Thousands of people would have lost even more money because they did not receive clear information about when it was best to apply for their benefits..
According to the auditors, around 5,367 widows and widowers could have received up to an additional $114 million dollars if they had been properly advised about delaying certain retirement benefits while collecting survivor payments first. In many cases, applying for help too early permanently reduced their monthly income.
“While situations like this may affect only a few thousand people, the concerns behind the problem reach millions of beneficiaries,” explained Alex Beene, a professor of financial education at the University of Tennessee at Martin. “With the cost of living affecting millions of seniors, everyone wants to make sure the money they receive each month is right.”
Specialists warn that These types of errors especially affect older adults with limited income. For many families, even a few dollars less each month can mean difficulty paying for services, food or medicine.
“Social Security should help when a husband or wife dies, allowing the survivor to receive a higher benefit. But for years this process has been manual and in too many cases done poorly,” said Kevin Thompson, CEO of 9i Capital Neighborhood and host of the 9innings podcast. “It’s not a minor mistake; it’s real money that people depend on during one of the most difficult times of their lives.”
The SSA reported that will review the cases identified in the audit and take corrective measures when necessary. It also analyzes possible changes to its systems to reduce future errors and improve the guidance offered to beneficiaries.
People who believe they have been affected can request a review of their benefits directly with the SSA. Experts recommend asking specifically if the WINDEX calculation was applied correctly and checking all available benefit claim options.
Also It is important to have documents on hand as:
- Marriage certificate.
- Spouse’s death certificate.
- Social Security Numbers.
- Previous letters related to benefits received.
If the problem is not resolved, beneficiaries can request a formal reconsideration or seek support from local Social Security offices and community representatives.
You may also be interested in:
- They will send a direct payment of $500 this month: who qualifies
- The first tariff refund checks arrive: what you should know
- Social Security COLA 2027 would be almost 4%, according to a new estimate
- Price of the dollar in Mexico today, May 15, 2026: the greenback strengthens
- Kevin Warsh is named the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, approved by the Senate
