Widow(er) Beneficiaries Potentially Eligible for Higher Monthly Benefit Amounts

Date Issued

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Submitting OIG

Social Security Administration OIG

Agencies Reviewed/Investigated

Social Security Administration

Report Number

032409

Report Type

Audit

Agency Wide

Yes

Number of Recommendations

Questioned Costs

Funds for Better Use

$50,424,106

Report updated under NDAA 5274

External Link

Open Recommendations

This report has 4 open recommendations.

Recommendation Number	Significant Recommendation	Recommended Questioned Costs	Recommended Funds for Better Use
1	No	$0	$97,768
We recommend the Social Security Administration (SSA) take appropriate actions for the 11 widow(er)s who were eligible for higher monthly benefits.
2	Yes	$0	$50,326,338
We recommend SSA take appropriate action for the remaining population of 54,773 widow(er)s who may be eligible for higher monthly benefits.
3	Yes	$0	$0
We recommend SSA establish controls to ensure employees evaluate claims for a widow(er)’s indexing (WINDEX) Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) when a widow(er) applies on the record of a wage earner who died before reaching age 62.
4	No	$0	$0
We recommend SSA enhance its systems to generate alerts reminding employes to (1) discuss filing options when a claimant lists a deceased spouse on the benefit application or files a widow(er) claim and a retirement claim with the same month of entitlement and (2) document the discussion as required.