Bad news: Even death panels won't work

[IIOY]

Goddamn cockroaches. From the WSJ:

Sleuthing Finds Dead Social Security Recipients

It seemed like a simple enough premise for a gumshoe: How many Americans who are at least 90 years old receive Social Security payments but haven’t drawn any Medicare benefits for the past three years?

There could be a chance that some of these recipients are dead.

It turned out that a lot of them are dead, and now at least two criminal probes are underway.

The Social Security Administration put together a random sample of 125 Americans who were at least 90 years old and received old-age benefits but did not use their Medicare benefits. It confirmed that at least 23 of these Americans were dead, with three having passed away 29 years, 21 years, and 19 years ago respectively. At least two of these cases are being referred for criminal prosecution, the inspector general’s office said in its report.

Further, after the probe, the Social Security Administration moved to terminate certain benefits of those who had previously died in Guatemala, Mexico, and Thailand.

The SSA’s inspector general said based on its review, it estimates the agency has overpaid 890 dead Americans roughly $99 million under these precise circumstances (it’s unclear who collects the benefits in the case of a death, though relatives often face scrutiny).

The inspector general, in its report, said the Social Security Administration could do more to determine when its beneficiaries pass away, including using data from Medicare and banks to see when accounts go inactive.

[EloiseWeenie]

totally random, but the other night at dinner we talking about politics. At one point my husband said that we just need to have death panels for old people. My 3 year old said "NO! That's not nice." I asked him if he was turning liberal on us, and he shook his head yes. He then said "Don't cry Momma, I'll be ok."

[lys]

More governmnet efficiency at work.
The IRS has not dealt with massive fraud. THere have been thousands of claims with refunds that go to the same address. Was not pursued. Infact when noticed IRS agents were discouraged from pursuing the problem.

[Deleted]

I thought you had to provide a finger print every once in a while to keep collecting SS benefits