WASHINGTON (TNND) -- A former Social Security employee told The U.S. Sun that people are getting overpaid by $9 billion a year and all Americans are paying the price. The employee added that the system for assessing overpayments is "really messed up."

Madeline Summerville, an attorney at Georgia Trial Consulting said the former employee's statements are quite revealing.

This is a reflection of systemic failure the Social Security administration has been dealing with for a really long time," Summerville said.

A 2024 report by the Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General says that between 2015-2022, the agency made almost $72 billion in incorrect payments, the majority being overpayments.

"So people are struggling to figure out exactly how much money do I have each month," said Summerville.

Avram Sacks, the former employee, started speaking out about overpayments when he realized the process had gotten worse.

"It was at that point that I realized the system for assessing overpayments was really messed up, and as a government attorney, I needed to make sure that what I was advocating in federal court was correct," Sacks told The U.S. Sun.

Sacks went on to say that he believes overpayments by the administration are now the worst they've ever been. He warned that the errors are impacting Americans and their families. Something Summerville doesn't necessarily agree with.

In terms of number, there hasn't been a huge cash grab," Summerville said.

Defending itself, the Social Security Administration says about 1% of all payments are overpayments and the new commissioner announced a major shakeup of the agency earlier this year.

"The first step is identifying what exactly went wrong," said Summerville.

One of those changes was modifying how the agency recovers overpayments: changing it from 100% of monthly social security benefits to 10%. As of 2023, the agency has yet to recover $23 billion in incorrect payments.