Senate Tries to Stop Agencies from Paying Dead People

The government’s ongoing effort to halt improper benefits payments to the deceased moved a step forward on Wednesday when legislation to require tightened double-checks and interagency access cleared the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased People Act, S 1073, sponsored by Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Ranking Member Tom Carper, D-Del., would require agencies to use more accurate and complete lists of deceased individuals to confirm payment eligibility.

Fraudulent claims or out-of-date claims using names of deceased individuals was the subject of a Senate hearing in March as well as a recent broadcast on CBS News’ “60 Minutes.” General efforts to use data analytics and cross-agency checking to reduce improper payments has been a priority of the Obama administration.

The key federal database, the Death Master File, is maintained by the Social Security Administration. But sources providing updates on whether a person is no longer living are inconsistent, and other agencies dispensing benefits have not had access to SSA’s full files.

“Last year the federal government spent $124.7 billion by making improper payments, a $19 billion increase from the previous year,” Johnson said. “Our hearing this spring highlighted the financial devastation of individuals who are alive but marked as deceased by the federal government.”

Carper in a statement noted that “year after year, we hear about the costly communication breakdown between government agencies when it comes to keeping track of individuals who are, unfortunately, deceased and no longer eligible for benefits and other payments from the federal government.”

“By implementing some commonsense steps to improve coordination between agencies, we can curb improper payments and yield savings in hundreds of millions, if not billions of taxpayer dollars,” he added

At the same business meeting a week before the Senate prepares to leave for its August recess, the panel also approved another Johnson-Carper bill, the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (S. 779).  Aimed at fueling discovery and innovation, it would make publicly funded articles on scientific research freely accessible online. Agencies with research budgets of $100 million or more would be required to establish a policy that mandates that researchers submit an electronic copy of any article based on agency-funded research in a peer-reviewed journal.

The bill, which has a House companion, drew praise from the American Library Association, "The public has a right to access government-funded information," said Sari Feldman, the ALA’s president in a statement. "This legislation provides the public―which includes students in libraries and schools across the nation―with opportunities to learn and grow from scholarly research.”

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