Government

Gov’t Paid More Than $600 Million in Benefits to Dead People

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government has doled out more than $600 million in benefit payments to dead people over the past five years, a watchdog report says.

Such payments are meant for retired or disabled federal workers, but sometimes the checks keep going out even after the former employees pass away and the deaths are not reported, according to the report this week from the Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general, Patrick McFarland.

In one case, the son of a beneficiary continued receiving payments for 37 years after his father’s death in 1971. The payments – totaling more than $515,000 – were only discovered when the son died in 2008.

The government has been aware of the problem since a 2005 inspector general’s report revealed defects in the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund. Yet the improper payments have continued, despite more than a half dozen attempts to develop a system that can figure out which beneficiaries are still alive and which are dead, the report said.

“It is time to stop, once and for all, this waste of taxpayer money,” it said.

Office of Personnel Management spokesman Edmund Byrnes said he could not immediately comment on the findings. But the report said OPM Director John Berry agrees that stopping the improper payments should be a priority.

There are about 2.5 million federal workers who receive over $60 billion in benefit payments from the program each year.

Federal officials have tried matching the fund‘s computer records with the Social Security Administration’s death records, checking tax records and improving the timeliness of death reporting.

OPM has also sampled its records of all recipients over 90 years old to confirm whether they are still alive. In 2009, there were more than 125,000 recipients identified as over 90 and about 3,400 over 100 years old.

Both the Obama administration and Congress have made it a higher priority to crack down on improper government payments.

Last year, government investigators found that more than 89,000 stimulus payments of $250 each from the massive economic recovery package went to people who were either dead or in prison.

Comments (63)

1 2
  • Dave In Arizona
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 3:40pm

    Well, buying dead people‘s votes doesn’t come cheap.

    Report Post » Dave In Arizona  
    • The10thAmendment
      Posted on September 23, 2011 at 6:23pm

      Wait a second here. So the Government is buying dead peoples votes. We already knew and know that. Certainly unethical and immoral. Is that the end of the discussion? So ends up with that money? Do they dig up the dead people and re-bury them with the cash? Where does the money end up? I’m a taxpayer and I want my money back. Will I have to dig up some poor dead schmuck to get whats mine or what?

      Report Post » The10thAmendment  
    • unsure
      Posted on September 23, 2011 at 6:33pm

      Do you think they got $350 from Obama my sister-in-law got an extra $350 for my brother that died in 1986.

      Report Post »  
    • Ruler4You
      Posted on September 24, 2011 at 2:51am

      Yea, but they also paid more than that to tyrants and despots world wide, too. And that is just last year!

      Report Post » Ruler4You  
    • Wetmouse
      Posted on September 24, 2011 at 12:57pm

      The people who cash the checks should be prosecuted ! They are no better than Illegal Mexicans !
      Both are United States lawbreakers.

      Report Post » Wetmouse  
    • KYWATCHDOG
      Posted on September 24, 2011 at 4:33pm

      Are we surprised. Of course not! Seems to be the norm.

      Report Post »  
  • wildwood
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 3:28pm

    That washington , a waste land that has no end, just keep ticking away like the deficit clock!!!!!
    The only way to wake them up is a tax revolt!!!!!

    Report Post »  
    • proantisocialist
      Posted on September 23, 2011 at 8:49pm

      if we could get everyone to file exempt for 1 year obama and thesocialist would be done….

      Report Post » proantisocialist  
  • TeaPartyPatriot
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 3:21pm

    “Gov’t Paid More Than $600 Million in Benefits to Dead People”
    …it’s payback (using taxpayer money, as usual) from the lunatic-left d-cRAT socialists for all those “votes” they got from the dead.

    Report Post » TeaPartyPatriot  
  • rts0439
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 3:14pm

    This what happens when the OPM, Office of Personnel Management, uses OPM, Other People Money.

    The real problem here is not incompetence, which there is plenty of, but the fact the the Office of Personnel Management benefits from the travesty of tax payers dollars. It lets them grow their department, grow their budgets and create more incompetence to combat their existing incompetence. It is an endless cycle. Makes you very happy to pay your taxes.

    Report Post »  
  • TomFerrari
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 3:14pm

    Well, the Constitution doesn’t say you have to stop paying people once they die!
    It says we are CREATED equal. It doesn’t say when that equality ends.
    LOL

    This is beyond bad management of OUR MONEY…

    This is outright CRIMINAL – people KNOW they are cashing grandma’s check, even after she is dead. That is a CRIME !
    Go to Jail – Go DIRECTLY to Jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect Grannie’s social security check.
    .
    .
    .

    Report Post » TomFerrari  
  • cknapp
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 3:06pm

    When my wife of 21 years died of breast cancer, I called the Social Security Office within a few days, she was receiving disability checks.

    I did not have to be told to make that call, it was merely the right thing to do. You mean not everyone thinks this way? I do not understand how someone could take money that is not theirs.

    Craig Knapp
    Age 50
    Anonymous posting is for wimps!

    Report Post »  
    • Mike N
      Posted on September 23, 2011 at 5:29pm

      Kudos Craig . . . there are more like you out here . . . but sadly not enough.

      The quality of character of the average American citizen is seriously diluted from years of stretching ethical boundaries . . . exactly what the liberal establishment had hoped for. Now look where we are.

      Can we recover? Yes, but it will surely take an act of God.

      Report Post »  
    • Bill Rowland
      Posted on September 23, 2011 at 6:01pm

      Did the same thing when my mother died – they made me pay back her last check. Also told me she wasn’t eligible for dead benefits – don’t apply

      OMG – Psalm 109:8

      Report Post »  
  • mikee1
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 3:00pm

    I bet they were all DUMMYCRAPS, with, maybe, a few rinos. Dummycraps in BIG CITIES OR FROM BIG CITIES ARE RIPPING OFF MILLIONS IN PENSIONS FROM BOARDS, ETC. Check it out. They should all be prosecuted like BLAGO.

    Report Post » mikee1  
    • ishka4me
      Posted on September 23, 2011 at 3:05pm

      if you take this waste and add it to the solyndra and other wasteful programs, the silly spending and daily government waste we should never have to talk of defecits or raising taxes again. This is the heart of the tea party.

      Report Post »  
  • reconmarine
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 2:58pm

    Giving the dead all of that money is bad enough but when they cast their votes…that really ****** me off!

    Report Post »  
  • reconmarine
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 2:57pm

    They’re not really dead. They’re just LAZY liberals and look dead.

    Report Post »  
  • ionic
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 2:55pm

    And in a related story, the IRS has killed off my (still living) Grandmother three times.

    Report Post »  
  • jmgair
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 2:43pm

    So the real question should be, Where did the $$ go and why is it still being sent out ?? This is nothing compared to the current administrations waste and fraud using tax payer $$ since they are the KINGS of waste & fraud.

    Report Post »  
  • MidWestMom
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 2:13pm

    No big surprise.
    Another example of the inefficiency and waste in the government boondoggle.

    Report Post »  
    • MidWestMom
      Posted on September 23, 2011 at 2:30pm

      Would like to know how many of those checks were cashed and how many are just floating around somewhere. People cashing these checks knowing the money wasn‘t theirs are a perfect example of how far society has strayed from doing what’s right instead of what’s wrong.

      Report Post »  
    • Momofseven
      Posted on September 23, 2011 at 3:43pm

      I would not count on social security with information on people dead. I knew someone that his wife died and they had it as he died. I think he said it was about 6 months before they got it right. I had a renter one time that gets social sercurity with all his homeless freinds. He had a van and the smell of a dead body in it. I now think one of his homeless freinds died and he had the body. I think he barried it. He was good at making it look like nobody moved dirt. I did call police, since no facts they say it could of been fish. Later the mail man sad a lot of social security checks went to his mail box. He had some lady that would handle his money for him, from my understanding she worked for SSA and I think it was not all good. At the time, I did let SSA know of my concerns, but it was all over looked. What proof did I have. I think they could check out how many checks went to the same address. When only one person lived at that address. That is where I would of started. Maybe start once a year people get photo that are on SSA or any other program that stops when you die. If they can’t make it in, send someone to get the photo. Seems like it might help the ones that are in control of this.

      Report Post »  
  • welovetheUSA
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 2:13pm

    And Obama voters want this guy running our heathcare? 2012 folks……..get All democrats out.

    Report Post » welovetheUSA  
    • Bill Rowland
      Posted on September 23, 2011 at 6:18pm

      Go Green – recycle our government in 2012

      PMG Psalm 109:8

      Report Post »  
  • johnj1952
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 1:57pm

    Dad as no longer alive or as in brain dead voters for Odumbo?

    Report Post » johnj1952  
  • michael48
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 1:57pm

    gotta take care of the Dem-Com base…ya know…it’s the old , they voted just after they didn’t scam…

    Report Post »  
  • TxMadMac
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 1:53pm

    Ms Waters, doesn’t that just pi$$ you off ? If you’d only known, that money would have been l a bound !

    Report Post »  
  • ...EriK
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 1:41pm

    Beaubird, I understand your frustration. I actually have a little (and I do mean little) experience here. For a short while I worked for DoD-DFAS in the Retired and Annuitant Pay Division. I cannot begin to tell you of all of the possible avenues for fraud, granted legal and systematic limitations caused its share of issuess, but much of the problem we faced were the direct result of inaction by the retirees, their beneficiaries, or guardians. The later two primarily commiting the fraud. We used to get about 100K pieces of returned mail a year because the recipients could not bring themselves to submit a simple change of address form. And, that volume of mail has a cost associated with it and only represents a portion of the actual undeliverable mail… How much more fell into the garbage, or the wrong hands is anyone’s guess. There were internal issues to address, as well.

    Report Post » ...EriK  
  • JLGunner
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 1:37pm

    So lets just “hurry ans pass the new spending bill” that comrad barck proposed. Idiots.

    Report Post » JLGunner  
  • georgeisn6
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 1:34pm

    Did they count what they payed DEAD HEAD “O”WHATABUMMER:

    Report Post »  
  • woodmantech
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 1:29pm

    Heck, California *elected* someone who was dead in the Nov. 2010 elections…

    Report Post » woodmantech  
  • OLEGROG
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 1:22pm

    I can’t help but wonder how many still vote!

    Report Post »  
  • Stoic one
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 1:22pm

    sounds to me like dishonest children and trustees of the dead, or greed if you will. this is not entirely the gov’t here, as much as I would like to blame them.

    Report Post » Stoic one  
  • badjujuu
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 1:16pm

    Well, at least the money were going to dead US citizens not illegal aliens. If that is any comfort.

    Report Post » badjujuu  
  • beaubird
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 1:11pm

    Stupid, stupid , stupid, what is wrong with these idiotic nuts.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES it has got to stop. Hell yu cant help the elderly or people that really need help because it is going to dead people. how dumb is that!!! If the gov gets any more dummer put monkeys in which that must be what is running it now!! It makes me sick to even hear such !!!!!!!! People cant stand to listen to the real truth because it makes us so dam mad , you just turn it off and try not to deal with it, nothing is going to be done about it , thats the bad thing! We the people are going to have to fix it cause these dumb asses dont get it! I hate sending in taxes when it is throwed away. It is criminal and they should be put away all of them!!!!!!!

    Report Post »  
  • rfycom
    Posted on September 23, 2011 at 1:11pm

    I would love to see the break down Republicans versus democrats on this one.

    Report Post »  
1 2

Sign In To Post Comments! Sign In

Sign Up For Our Newsletter!

Glenn Beck Radio

Listen to Glenn Beck 24/7 Listen Now
Restoring Love