America’s system of reporting its dead needs a major tuneup

222Twain’s 19th century frustration over some sloppy news reporting has snowballed into a 21st-century Orwellian nightmare affecting multitudes of the hapless living dead in this country. Specifically, the inspector general’s office of the Social Security Administration earlier this month reported that thousands of Americans have found their names on its ghoulish-sounding Death Master File while they are still very much alive, thank you.

Even worse, however, is news that the SSA has more than 6.5 million active Social Security numbers for Americans who are 112 years old or older. We know life expectancy is increasing at a brisk pace, but come on! Credible estimates report only about 35 people worldwide have made it to that ripe old age. In a quirky twist on Samuel Clemens’ lament, the reports of their long lives have been greatly exaggerated.

Unfortunately, such life and death bungles are no laughing matters. They’re costing our debt-ridden nation more than $125 billion yearly and have ruined the finances, health, identities and security of thousands of Americans.

Fortunately, the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs has recognized the severity of the boondoggle and has begun hearings toward crafting a legislative solution to minimize the errors, the waste and the destruction such misreporting and its aftereffects have wrought for decades.

Most of the anguish comes from inaccurate and outdated record-keeping at the Social Security Administration. Its Death Master File, as its ghoulish name suggests, is one colossal roll-call repository listing America’s dearly departed that at last count contained about 83 million names. Created at the urging of U.S. business interests about 35 years ago, the DMF’s goal is to reduce instances of identity theft, fraud and wasteful government spending.

EFFECTS CONTRADICT INTENT

But as it has grown over the years and inevitable human error has seeped into it, the DMF — technically called the Social Security Death Index — has produced precisely the opposite effects.

In fact, in fiscal year 2014, the federal government improperly spent $124.7 billion, according to Rep. Ron Johnson, R-Texas, chairman of the subcommittee investigating the problems. “There is one root cause that is easily identified, but for reasons that defy logic, has been incredibly difficult to solve. The federal government has wasted billions of dollars over the last few decades giving money to dead people.”

The flip side of that dilemma must be considered as well. Just ask Judy Rivers of Logan, Ala., who testified last week at the hearings. Rivers lost her home, her savings, her bank and credit accounts, lived in her car, was locked out of employment and became a shadow of herself after her name erroneously appeared on the Death Master File several years ago. Two years into her ordeal, the 5-foot-8 woman was reduced to a scrawny 103-pound shadow of her former self.

It is this human dimension of anguish that Congress must work aggressively to fix. Johnson and others argue that improving the accuracy of the DMF and building safeguards into the system will go a long way toward lessening pain and minimizing waste. For example, he and others suggest that banks be forced to independently verify the death of their clients before automatically closing out their accounts.

The problems wracking the system are not new. Previous efforts to control them have brought minimal change or have been stonewalled. Given the impact on our national debt and the devastating consequences on the lives of thousands of living Americans, the rickety roster of our nation’s dead demands sturdy reinforcement and reform. Clearly the monumental importance of that task cannot be exaggerated.