Government Pays $600 Million to Dead People, Knew About it Since 2005

by dogwings@inbox.com (All American Blogger)

In 2005, an Inspector General report was released that showed the government paying out millions of dollars to dead people.
The government, which President Obama says will trim the deficit by eliminating wasteful spending, shrugged it off.  The payments continued to the tune of $600 million:

In one case, the son of a beneficiary continued receiving payments for 37 years after his father’s death in 1971. The payments — totaling more than $515,000 — were only discovered when the son died in 2008.
The government has been aware of the problem since a 2005 inspector general’s report revealed defects in the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund. Yet the improper payments have continued, despite more than a half dozen attempts to develop a system that can figure out which beneficiaries are still alive and which are dead, the report said.
“It is time to stop, once and for all, this waste of taxpayer money,” it said.
Office of Personnel Management spokesman Edmund Byrnes said he could not immediately comment on the findings. But the report said OPM Director John Berry agrees that stopping the improper payments should be a priority.

When shown a report that highlights millions in waste, nothing is done.  Yet we are supposed to accept Obama’s deficit reduction numbers when they include savings from improving government efficiency.
Not only does this need fixed, but those benefiting from this fraud need prosecuted.
Then, bring in a private company to design a system that will eliminate the waste.  Maybe even turn it over to them, rather than let the shiftless bureaucrats shelve their ideas until the next guy gets there.



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