Gov't Sends Benefits Checks to Dead People
CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports government benefits meant for the living are being paid to the dead in tonight's "Follow the Money."
You think election season politics are scary? The federal government sees dead people all year long, and sends them millions of your tax dollars.
Baltimore resident James Hagner was shocked to open the mail and find a $250 stimulus check for his mother. Unfortunately, she died in 1967.
Hagner's mom was one of 71,000 dearly departed who received stimulus checks totaling $18 million.
A new report by Congressional investigatorsfinds that since 2000: the federal government has paid a quarter million dead people for things like wheelchairs, rent and more. The checks are worth over a billion tax dollars.
Investigators say in many cases, the money lines the pockets of the living, who are defrauding taxpayers by collecting for long-gone relatives.
Medicare and Medicaid paid more than $92 million for medical supplies and pills for dead patients - or mysteriously prescribed by deceased doctors. A billion dollars in subsidies went to farmers who'd already bought the farm. And in seven states, $4 million dollars for cooling and heating costs for people who are six feet under.
Sen. Tom Coburn says sloppy bookkeeping in federal agencies is often to blame. "Now it's one thing to send people money, it's another to send people money and then not have a way to get it back."
The government's working to stop waste and fraud. But officials say it's expensive and can be impossible to determine if someone's dead or alive - especially if they died a long time ago.
If they could fix it, taxpayers would save big: government cutbacks that wouldn't hurt a living soul.