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,'<,i~iD ]AlI-:S (3ENERAL ACCOUN i',o O( I'l C - / ,.
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548 /
JUL 8 /
HlJ:- t, RESOUR CES
Mr. John A. Svahn
Commissioner of Social Security
Department of Health and Human Services - (C ('-j/,-.
.. e /
Dear Mr. Svahn: /
Subject: Impact of State Death Information on Federal Income
Security Programs (HRD-81-113)
...The General Accounting Office has completed a limited survey
to determine whether deaths of Social Security Administration (SSA)
Title II beneficiaries were being reported to Social Security so
benefits could be terminated or otherwise converted to surviving
spouses,., The survey, which was done by our New York and Cincinnati
Regional Offices, consisted of matching death records from New York
City and Kentucky with SSA's Title II Master Beneficiary Record
(MBR).
'The New York City death records contained Social Security
numbers (SSNs) for 144,899 residents who died during 1978, 1979,
and the first 9 months of 1980. We statistically sampled 1,512 of
these records and, based on our analysis of MBR information, we
did not identify any individuals in current pay status as of
July 1981.....
The tape from Kentucky contained records of 35,174 persons
who died during calendar year 1977. When we matched the SSNs
from this tape with the MBR, we found that about 18,420 of the
deceased were at one time Social Security primary and auxiliary
beneficiaries. Using the MBR data to determine how many of these
beneficiaries were still in current pay status, we identified nine
deceased individuals who continued to appear in current pay status.
We turned these cases over to our Fraud Prevention Task Force iunder
Case Control Number 25020. The cases will then be referred F6 the
Department of Health and Human Services' office of the Inspector
General for investigation.
-The objective of our study was to determine whether Title
II overpayments were resulting because deaths were not being
reported to SSA. -We were concerned because, as you know,
reporting of deaths to SSA by survivors is voluntary and because
there have been disclosures by the media and others that Social
Security checks continued long after a beneficiary's death.--
116919
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