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Americans are getting older, but not this old: Social Security records show that 6.5 million people in the U.S. have reached the ripe old age of 112. In reality, only a few could possibly be alive. As of last fall, there were only 42 people known to be that old in the entire world.
But Social Security does not have death records for millions of these people, with the oldest born in 1869, according to a report by the agency's inspector general.
Only 13 of the people are still getting Social Security benefits, the report said. But for others, their Social Security numbers are still active, so a number could be used to report wages, open bank accounts, obtain credit cards, or claim fraudulent tax refunds.
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Social Security Data Says 6.5 Million People in US Reached Age 112
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Forms follow function, and often obliterate it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2015, @12:47AM
> You would think that at age 100, with no claims to-date, they could just close the account, with a possibility to appeal.
They need to go further than just a possibility.
As always, the hard part is exception handling.
Given that old people are likely to have disabilities that make appealing difficult they would need to staff up a special group dedicated to handling such appeals in an expedited fashion and to make sure that if the person themselves were unable to appeal, it would be easy for a caregiver to do it for them. No jumping through hoops, either, the agency should be the ones jumping through any and all hoops. Have agents tasked with going to visit the person at their residence at the person's convenience and if they don't have sufficient ID, take a photo for the record and make a judgement call because if you've got some super old person chances are they really are the one. Also give out a big bonus, like $10K, for anyone who does appeal to compensate them for the hassle.
The goal isn't to have perfect enforcement, the goal is to reduce costs. So anything that nets a reduced cost is still a win. Better to err on the side of some fraud and really high overhead of verification then to let anyone who deserves their social security get screwed over because that can be the difference between life and death.
(Score: 4, Informative) by frojack on Tuesday March 17 2015, @01:26AM
Wait, you quoted me, but failed to read what I wrote.
I said "at age 100, with no claims to-date".
In other words, once they file a claim, we know the account is active, (perhaps not valid, but somebody is getting the money, and depositing the checks). The story itself says virtually nobody (13) of this 6.5 million is getting paid benefits. There is no massive outflow of money here.
Further I postulated waiting till 100 years of age WITH NO CLAIMS OF BENEFITS to declare them Dead-ish. So the forgetful well-to-do guy can spend is savings for 35 years after he turns 65 and still get his due benefits, when, at age 100 he finally figures out he should maybe file.*
Nobody is paying into these accounts, and nobody i drawing benefits. Its digital dead-weight. It probably costs nothing to keep these accounts on spinning storage. But having a policy for terminating dormant accounts would at least prevent organisations like Phys.org from publishing sensationalist stories about millions of 112 year olds.
* There are people who labor under the misconception that Social Security is welfare, and may be too proud to accept the money. But SS is an annuity. You pay for it all your working life. And even Warren Buffet cashes his social security check. He earned it.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2015, @01:36AM
That all assumes the "no claims to date" is accurate.
Like I said, exception handling.