In 2009, senior officials at the Social Security Administration were made aware of grossly underpaying widows who were entitled to much larger benefits.
They did nothing.
So, the "whistleblower", for lack of a better term, contacted the one person with a large enough megaphone and deep understanding of Social Security to tell him about this absolute disgrace, Larry Kotlikoff.
In 2015, Larry wrote a scorching article for PBS about this issue.
The Social Security Administration did nothing.
In February 2018, the report was released. And this is what they concluded:
"...we estimate SSA underpaid about $131.8 million
to 9,224 beneficiaries who were age 70 and older. In addition, we
estimate SSA will underpay an additional 1,899 beneficiaries who
were under age 70 about $9.8 million, annually, beginning in the
year they attain age 70."
What will the SSA do now??? Who knows but this means you need to understand your OWN Social Security benefit.
