A 2021 budget measure gave Treasury’s Office of Payment Integrity authority to access the SSA "Death Master File" - helping it recover improper payments. Image: Ron Adar/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffAn initial five-month program of Treasury Department access to a SSA file of deaths resulted in preventing and recovering more than $31 million in fraud and improper payments, Treasury has said in an announcement that could help build the case for allowing such access by other agencies, as well.
Giving other agencies to the SSA “Death Master File”—containing more than 142 million records of deaths from 1899—has been mentioned frequently in IG reports as having the potential for reducing fraud in programs operated by other agencies. A 2021 budget measure gave Treasury’s Office of Payment Integrity authority to access those records over 2024-2026.
Treasury said it projects more than $215 million in net benefit over the three-year period, citing a more than doubling of the number of death record matches, improved timeliness and quality of data, and “notable growth in new and/or expanded partnerships and increased usage” of it Do Not Pay system.
The results from the initial pilot project “are just the tip of the iceberg. Congress granting permanent access to the Full Death Master File will significantly reduce fraud, improve program integrity, and better safeguard taxpayer dollars,” the announcement said.
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