Social Security Administration

The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. The President believes that all Americans should have the opportunity to retire with dignity. To fund this commitment, the President's FY 2012 Budget includes $12.5 billion for SSA operations; an increase of $1billion, or 9 percent, above last the FY2010 Enacted level to keep the President's commitment to reduce the backlog of disability claims. The Budget also reflects the need to find areas for cost-savings wherever possible. Accordingly, the Budget includes funding to more effectively and efficiently processes thousands of continuing disability reviews to enhance program integrity for long-term savings, and supports disability pilot programs to explore new ways to reduce costs and improve outcomes for Americans.  

Protects Social Security

• The President recognizes that Social Security is indispensable to workers, people with disabilities, seniors, and survivors. Based on current forecasts, Social Security can pay full benefits until 2037. The President is committed to making sure that Social Security is solvent and viable for the American people, now and in the future. He is strongly opposed to privatizing Social Security and looks forward to working in a bipartisan way to preserve it for future generations. 

Pursues New Ways to Improve Service Delivery

• Pilots a simpler approach to help Americans with disabilities try to return to work when it is best for their needs, without fear of losing their benefits. The Administration also proposes five-year reauthorization of SSA’s demonstration authority for the Disability Insurance program, allowing SSA to test other program innovations.
• Improves services for children with disabilities with $40 million in funding between SSA and the Department of Education for competitive grants to test and evaluate interventions that improve outcomes for children, allowing them to leave SSI.
• Improves program integrity and tax administration by shifting the Federal wage reporting process to quarterly wage reporting.  The Administration will work with states so that the overall reporting burden on employers is not increased.
• Reduces the disability claims backlog by funding the processing of 3.3 million claims and the hearing of 822,500 cases.  To pursue cost-savings, the Budget provides resources to more effectively and efficiently process disability reviews and to enhance long-term program integrity.

Cuts Waste, Fraud, and Payment Errors through Strengthened Program Integrity Efforts

• SSA’s program integrity efforts are part of a strong framework to ensure tax dollars are spent efficiently and that SSA pays benefits only to eligible beneficiaries and in the correct amounts. The President’s Budget provides $938 million for SSA program integrity, including an increase of more than 60 percent in the level of medical Continuing Disability Reviews over the prior year, to ensure recipients continue to the meet the medical criteria for those programs. The Budget includes additional processing capacity within the agency devoted to program integrity, which will lead to over $260 million in further savings.