8

Symptom of the Disease: $600 million in benefits paid to the dead

Six hundred million in the past five years. The AP story claims the federal government and the Obama administration are working to clamp down on the unearned payments, but there is no mention of prosecutions or attempts to recover the cash.

Yeah, it’s not all that much money. My emphasis in bold.

[The incorrect] 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.

That’s a handout of almost $14,000 per year. There must be some sort of lottery program where a few lucky families get payments after the death of a loved one who spent their working years working for the federal government.

Well, in many places you don’t need to prove who you are to vote, so why need to prove your alive to receive federal benefits?

Just another symptom of the disease. The federal government is way too big for it’s britches.

Filed in: Government Tags: 

Related Posts

Bookmark and Promote!

From the owners: This section is for comments from Radio Vice Online's registered readers. Never assume the owners of this site agree with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use - a must read if you wish to contribute here - may lose their posting privileges. Just because we've let a similar comment stand in the past does not mean we'll let it stand in the future.

8 Responses to "Symptom of the Disease: $600 million in benefits paid to the dead"

  1. NH-Jim says:

    It’s that easy, huh?
    I think I will just say I’m dead and not pay taxes any longer.

    • Dimsdale says:

      You should say that you are a dead illegal alien for an even bigger score, or at minimum, some tasty “catch and release” action!

  2. steve418r says:

    I guess the government is too busy paying for the $18.00 muffins, with the $10.00 cups of coffee to care about an amount as small as $550,000.00

  3. johnboy111 says:

    people knowingly cashing these checks should be jailed for 10 years..that may stop that????OH wait that’s to simple..

  4. winnie says:

    It’s not illegal to be dead in the United States and collect benefits as a retired or disabled federal worker (channeling Martha Coakley). 

    Isn’t death the ultimate disability, anyway? ;)

  5. Lynn says:

    How many of those dead people voted for President Obama?

© 2008-2012 Radio Vice Online Inc. All rights reserved | FAQ | Terms of Use | Advertise
Implemented and managed by Spider Creations LLC.