KIRO 7 investigators honored with prestigious award for Social Security overpayment reporting

BOSTON, MA — Tonight, KIRO 7 Investigates, was honored with a prestigious national award for our investigative stories that exposed how Social Security overpayments cost millions of Americans their monthly benefits.

At an annual awards ceremony held in Boston Wednesday evening, the Harvard Kennedy School honored our reporting along with our sister stations and the nonprofit KFF Health News with a Goldsmith Special Citation for reporting on government.

It recognizes journalism that examines how government works, including how and why it can fail - and how those problems can be solved.

We exposed how the Social Security Administration has been overpaying billions of dollars each year to vulnerable Americans, then demanding they pay the money back years later, even when it was the government’s mistake.

We found more than 2-million people each year are hit with overpayments and that the agency often lowers or stops their monthly checks to recover the debts.

Our reporting led to a congressional hearing and tougher oversight. And the Social Security Administration recently announced significant changes to limit clawbacks. The agency also restored benefits for several of the people we featured in our stories.

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