technologylegacies

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/23/national/main20110835.shtml?tag=stack

September 23, 2011 1:57 PM
Watchdog: Gov’t paid $600 million to dead people

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(AP) WASHINGTON – The federal government has doled out more than $600 million in benefit payments to dead people over the past five years, a watchdog report says.

Such payments are meant for retired or disabled federal workers, but sometimes the checks keep going out even after the former employees pass away and the deaths are not reported, according to the report this week from the Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general, Patrick McFarland.

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.

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Seems obvious to me that in the best case, if the father was age 65 and retired in 1971, he’d be 102 and till collecting checks.

It would seem that every decade, someone should pay a personal visit to the pensioner with a picture.

Even if that cost $1,000 per visit, it would have prevented the loss of ½ million dollars.

As we see more ridiculous public pensions and other welfare programs, “Financial – Reconciliation” will be essential to prevent fraud.

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