The U.S. government has recovered more than $31 million in Social Security benefits improperly paid to people who died, but one official said Wednesday that the recovery was “just the tip of the iceberg.”
The funding comes after Congress granted the Treasury Department temporary access for three years to the Social Security Administration's “Full Death Master File” as part of the 2021 omnibus appropriations bill, which will be used for a five-month trial. collected as part of the program.
SSA maintains the most complete federal database of deaths, with more than 142 million records dating back to 1899, according to the Treasury Department.
The Treasury Department expects to recover more than $215 million during the three-year access period from December 2023 to 2026.
“These results are just the tip of the iceberg,” Assistant Treasury Secretary David Lebrick said in a news release.
He called on Congress to give the Treasury Department full access to the master file, saying it would “significantly reduce fraud, improve program integrity, and free up more taxpayer dollars.” It will be well protected.”
The initiative shows where the government is preventing fraud, waste and abuse, one of Donald Trump's campaign promises.
The president-elect has appointed two business titans, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to a new non-governmental task tasked with finding ways to lay off federal employees, make planned cuts and reduce federal regulations. He was appointed as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is a force. On the challenge President Trump calls “Save America” during his second term in the White House.
Representatives of the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the incoming administration would continue the effort or seek to make the Treasury Department's temporary access to the files permanent. .
