
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, November 18, 1994                   TAG: 9411180110
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Newsday and The Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SOCIAL SECURITY CATCHES GLITCH

The Social Security Administration acknowledged Thursday that it had underpaid benefits to some older Americans by about $474 million through the past decade. The agency said it will make good by sending checks averaging just over $1,000 to the 426,000 people affected.

The underpaid apparently are all among an estimated 4 million senior citizens who collected benefits while continuing to work during the years 1979-91.

Social Security spokesman Phil Gambino noted that the error affects fewer than 1 percent of the 43 million Americans who receive Social Security benefits.

Fixing the problem, however, still is expected to be a burden for an agency struggling to answer its telephones, reduce a backlog of claims for disability benefits and crack down on fraud.

Advocates for older Americans struck a forgiving chord.

``I don't want to minimize in any way the importance of this money to the individuals affected,'' said Martin Corry, director of federal affairs at the American Association of Retired Persons in Washington, D.C. ``But it is the SSA that found the glitch, and they are fixing it. So it's a good sign they have a way of catching these things and of setting about to make them right.''

``I'm surprised that glitches like this don't occur more often,'' said Patrick Burns, spokesman for the National Council of Senior Citizens, another advocacy group based in Washington. ``This is a huge agency writing literally millions of checks a month for billions of dollars.''

Social Security spokeswoman Jane Zanca in New York said the computer problems that caused the underpayments were part of complicated computations the agency does to calculate benefits for senior citizens who earn some wages while collecting from Social Security. In these cases, the computer wrongly cut each person's benefit about $10 a month, she said.

Zanca said the agency plans to send the additional money to beneficiaries or their heirs within the next six months. Anyone with questions can call (800) 772-1213.

But even Burns urged beneficiaries to sit tight: ``If you're owed money, it's not going to come to you any quicker. Also, the phone system really will be swamped, and the SSA on a good day is running hard just to keep with its regular duties.''

by CNB