Military Services and VA Can Reduce Benefit Overpayments by Improving Exchange of Pay Data

Gao ID: AFMD-83-39 July 12, 1983

GAO reviewed ways for the military services and the Veterans Administration (VA) to prevent overpayments to military retirees and survivors.

GAO found overpayments totaling $6.6 million and underpayments totaling $151,000 to both military retirees and survivors. Further, GAO found another $1 million in overpayments by reviewing cases the services had not examined. Under the present system, VA provides the military services with the names of only those recipients of VA benefits who are identified as military retirees or survivors. About $5 million of the $6.6 million in overpayments occurred because VA did not inform the military that it had awarded compensation to retirees and survivors. Consequently, the services continued making full payment to these individuals. GAO stated that an automated control system would have eliminated, if properly implemented, $5 million of the $6.6 million in overpayments detected in the 1981 reconciliation. The military services must use the results of the annual reconciliation of Defense and VA pay data more effectively to make sure these payments will be corrected.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: John F. Simonette Team: General Accounting Office: Accounting and Financial Management Division Phone: (202) 275-1581


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