Posted on 10/21/2026 12:56:34 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Social Security says it has corrected tens of millions of identity records in the largest database cleanup in its history. The changes involve missing death dates and citizenship information, raising understandable questions about what the effort means for people receiving benefits.
The agency’s October 20 announcement reports progress on work underway since the beginning of the Trump administration. It does not announce a benefit cut, a new application requirement or a deadline for everyone to verify their Social Security number.
The practical issue is accuracy. Better records can help prevent improper payments and identity misuse, while incorrect changes can create problems for people entitled to benefits.
The Social Security Administration describes the effort as the most comprehensive cleanup of its Social Security number database in the agency’s 91-year history. Commissioner Frank Bisignano said accurate identity information supports government services and helps prevent fraud.
SSA says it has corrected nearly 15% of active Social Security numbers since the administration began. The announcement describes both completed updates and work still in progress, so the categories should not be treated as a simple count of newly completed corrections.
The scale is significant because Social Security records serve purposes throughout government. Other agencies use the information to verify identities and administer programs, which means the consequences of an error can extend beyond a retirement check.
(Excerpt) Read more at globalmarketnews.com ...
FROM THE ARTICLE:
Government audits show that death-reporting problems can create real costs.
In March 2025, Social Security’s inspector general reported that the agency’s processing system had rejected hundreds of thousands of valid state death reports. The audit examined reports submitted between November 2018 and October 2022 and estimated that the problem resulted in $327 million in improper payments.
That was a separate audit of earlier activity. Its findings should not be presented as money recovered through the cleanup announced this week.
The audit illustrates the challenge facing the agency. Verification checks need to identify genuine deaths without accepting reports that incorrectly identify a living person. Weaknesses in either direction can be costly: taxpayers can fund payments that should have stopped, or eligible beneficiaries can lose access to money they need.
For someone relying on Social Security to cover housing, food and healthcare, even a temporary interruption can force an unplanned withdrawal from savings. That makes the speed and accuracy of corrections especially important.
Gee, sounds like the solution is changing to a self managed retirement account vs forced asset forfeiture and an IOU after 65.
“the agency’s processing system had rejected hundreds of thousands of valid state death reports.”
What? If a STATE submits a valid death report, on what grounds would SS reject that? That’s just nuts.
Because the state was scammed?
I thought it was the responsibility of the surviving family to submit the death certificate to the SSA? I get that it is to stop future payments to/for those folks that are receiving benefits, but what is the requirement for families that aren’t receiving any benefits or if they are required to but aren’t aware of this?
I’ve run some significant databases in my career. If you don’t keep up with “housekeeping” you end up with a lot of junk in the system. If it not always fraud. But it is “laziness” or “ignorance.”
Databases with junk in the system run slower and are prone to more mistakes.
The people in charge of this stuff should be flogged for letting it get this bad.
If there was a slight error in the data entry, it might not pass over. It would be rejected and probably printed out in an “exceptions” list. If you don’t have someone working those lists, it just blossoms from there into major problems later.
I know from personal experience that the office of Personnel Management killed my mom once—years before she actually died. And then when she DID die, they tried to get the estate to pay back money because their records indicated that she had been dead for years, collecting benefits.
That was an amazing conversation.
Government workers don’t really do anything other than their specific task, right in front of their face. Anything else isn’t their problem or responsibility. If you close your eyes, you can picture the Office-pottomuses who work in these jobs.
In MA the funeral homes update the SS record. It’s all automated.
“Government workers don’t really do anything other than their specific task, right in front of their face. Anything else isn’t their problem or responsibility.”
Yep...”that’s not my job” is rampant. AND, they often do their jobs very poorly. The run-arounds I’ve gotten by government are just staggering. Undoing messes (like your mom’s) once they start is a like Hercules cleaning the Augean Stables.
With a wink-and-nod reporting in the southeast states is put on hold as long as the family shares nanny and grandpa’s SSA with the reporter who sort of sits on things for years maybe.
See my post #11...This is how it works...
I’m all for cleaning up - and I paid a lot of attention to (and very much supported) DOGE but this really highlights where I think DOGE went awry....
I find it to be pretty typical - here in the private sector - of the supersmart young bucks (and I won’t deny they’re supersmart): They get blinders.
Back in a former life - long ago (we’re talking 90s), I was on a bidding process for a contract for some SSA work. We ultimately bowed out - no way to make the numbers work.
SSA is still using ancient mainframes and COBOL - I think this is still the case today and even their updated workarounds are ancient (I recall VSAM being a thing - ancient in the 90s, but new to SSA).
Anyway, I roll my eyes at ‘records’ in the SSA db for 125 yos — because I (and anyone else with a history in such) knows EXACTLY why: Those old systems, in simple terms? Hate/don’t support rollbacks and good luck restoring a record if you kill it.
It’s valuable to think in broad terms — 60-65 million (per year) is real money and ALL fraud should be stamped out... but SSA disburses (via all avenues) about 1.4 *trillion* annually. Easy enough to kill off the 60-65m in “improper” (most of which is probably fraud), but you’ll also inevitably whack a pretty large of number of legitimate recipients - and dollars to donuts, spend more than you save fixing that.
Sadly, Elon still won’t take my calls - but what I really wish DOGE had done? Multi-stepped it: Report the flaws and the overall/longterm possibilities, BUT - put together a package with a near-term cost (and it would be a BIG cost) to do a proper upgrade, ensure all connection points (HUGE - I don’t even like to think about about the legacy crap connecting systems).
Smaller scale - virtually no private endeavor hits the size of the SSA - but it’s an area I know well... It’s not cheap to upgrade and migrate. And my rule - which has served me well - is always figure at least a 10%, more like 20% - cost drift if you pull the trigger.
Government has always been bad at such things.
I think same in Oregon...funeral homes notify SS
My grandparents were born here. My granduncle served in Ww1. My father, my uncle served in WW2. I am a Viet/,Cold War vet. ZzNews of my death has been exaggerated.
“I woke up not dead again today.”
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