SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION: Preliminary Observations on the Death Master File

As the steward of taxpayer dollars, the federal government is accountable for safeguarding against improper paymentsthose that should not have been made or that were made in an incorrect amount. One tool federal agencies can use to do this is the DMF, which is a file containing records of deceased individuals who are SSN holders. Through data matching, federal benefit-paying agencies can use the DMF to alert them of deceased benefit recipients. However, the SSA Office of Inspector General and others have identified inaccuracies in the DMF, including deceased individuals who were not listed in the file. Such inaccuracies could adversely affect its usefulness to federal agencies. This testimony addresses preliminary observations on (1) SSAs process for handling death reports for inclusion in the DMF, and (2) federal agency access to the DMF. In addressing these objectives, we interviewed SSA officials regarding how the agency obtains death reports and maintains the DMF; reviewed applicable federal laws, SSA procedures, and reports; interviewed representatives of organizations that report deaths to SSA; and interviewed officials at other federal agencies that use the DMF.