May 7, 2026
A damning report from the Office of the Inspector General reveals that mistakes from the Social Security Administration (SSA) led to thousands of widows and widowers missing out on millions of dollars in combined benefit payments (1) over the years.
As MarketWatch reports, the SSA has shortchanged 8,618 widows and widowers out of $50.4 million, which works out to an average loss of $5,848 per person (2).
Advertisement
Roughly 40% of surviving spouses may have been affected by the SSA's errors, and since widows and widowers are among the poorest older Americans, this revelation is particularly troubling.
Miscalculation leads to missed benefits
As the investigation uncovered, the SSA's errors occurred when staff failed to correctly calculate benefits using what's known as the Widow(er)s Indexing Computation, or WINDEX for short.
"SSA employees did not apply the WINDEX PIA appropriately when they manually processed cases for 11 widow(er) beneficiaries and, as a result, did not pay the appropriate monthly benefits," states the investigative report (3). The PIA — Primary Insurance Amount — is the basis for the calculations that figure out each beneficiary's payments.
"We could not determine why SSA employees did not appropriately apply the WINDEX PIA for these widow(er) beneficiaries. Based on our random sample, we estimate SSA underpaid 8,618 widow(er)s approximately $50.4 million."
Those estimates are reportedly based on sampling payments from the last two years, and the figures are "thought to represent total cumulative underpayments to the beneficiaries," MarketWatch reports (4).
Must Read
- Dave Ramsey warns nearly 50% of Americans are making 1 big Social Security mistake — are you doing the same?
- Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 — and no, you don't have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here's how
- Robert Kiyosaki says this 1 asset will surge 400% in a year and begs investors not to miss this ‘explosion’
Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise’s best stories and exclusive interviews first — clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.
SSA's poor advice may have led to further losses
As if the investigation's initial findings weren't damning enough, thousands of widows and widowers may have also missed out on $114 million due to the SSA failing to provide them with the best advice for claiming benefits.
The inspector general's office noted the SSA should have advised against claiming benefits early, and early claims led to an average loss of $21,200 per affected beneficiary.
"We estimate 5,367 widow(er)s would have been eligible for $113.8 million in additional benefits had they chosen to delay their retirement claims," the report said (5). "We could not determine whether SSA appropriately paid these widow(er) beneficiaries despite reminders SSA issued to employees."
SSA has a long history of erroneous payments
In 2024, a report from the inspector general's office revealed that between 2015 and 2022, the SSA issued nearly $72 billion in improper benefit payments (6). This led to many overpayments, and the beneficiaries that received the money were on the hook for it.
Advertisement
The SSA sought reimbursement for these erroneous payments and had reportedly collected all but 23 billion from overpaid beneficiaries by the end of the 2023 fiscal year.
In March 2025, Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced the Social Security Overpayment Relief Act, a bill that aims to block the SSA from seeking reimbursement for overpaid benefits that are at least 10 years old (7).
"Seniors shouldn't have to pay for the government's mistakes, especially not mistakes that happened decades ago," Gallego said in a press release (8), adding that the bill would ensure older Americans aren't "blindsided by massive repayment amounts through no fault of their own."
As for the widows and widowers who were shortchanged on their benefit payments, the SSA told MarketWatch that it's addressing the problem and will take corrective action (9).
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
SSA Office of the Inspector General (1),(3),(5),(6); MarketWatch (2),(4),(9); U.S. Congress (7); Office of Senator Gallego (8)
You May Also Like
- Turning 50 with $0 saved for retirement? Most people don’t realize they’re actually just entering their prime earning decade. Here are 6 ways to catch up fast
- Inside a $1B real estate fund offering access to thousands of income-producing rental properties — with flexible minimums starting at $10
- Vanguard’s outlook on U.S. stocks is raising alarm bells for retirees. Here’s why and how to protect yourself
- Here are 5 easy ways to own multiple properties like Bezos and Beyoncé. You can start with $10 (and no, you don’t have to manage a single thing)
Chase is an Associate Editor for Wise Publishing. He formerly worked at Yahoo Canada as an editor on both the News and Sports teams.
