I Pay Dead People

[somarco]

Raymond Kenneth Musgrove seemed to have hit on a perfect scam. He impersonated a Vietnam war veteran for more than 25 years, authorities say, collecting service-related disability benefits and health care under the man’s name.

After the real veteran died in 2018 the Veterans Affairs Department cut off the benefits. Investigators say Mr. Musgrove called and convinced them he was still alive and the dead veteran was the fraudster, and they restarted the payments.

In 2021, the VA’s inspector general located the veteran’s headstone at Ft. Sill National Cemetery and urged the department to cut off benefits. Court documents say Mr. Musgrove once again convinced them the veteran, identified only by initials J.M.C., was still alive. Payments began again.

All told, authorities say, Mr. Musgrove walked away with more than $825,000 in bogus benefits, much of that paid out after J.M.C. was already dead.

Payments to dead people are one of the more infuriating aspects of government spending, especially when they involve bureaucratic bungling or outright fraud.

To death don’t us part: Why Uncle Sam keeps paying benefits to dead people

Payments to dead people are one of the more infuriating aspects of government spending, especially when they involve bureaucratic bungling or outright fraud. But from disaster relief payments to farm subsidies, the government has trouble sorting out when it’s paying someone who’s already gone.

www.washingtontimes.com

 

[GoPokes]

That is crazy! They also have a history of not paying living people...

I have a couple of clients who were in this situation at one point. Both of them, similar story, when their spouse died, social security mistakingly recorded the living spouse as deceased.

As you can imagine, it creates a huge issue. Their SS benefits come to a halt. The banks closed their accounts.

Can you imagine some of the clients we have, with limited means, trying to live on nothing, while at the same time jump through all the government hurdles and waiting, to get it fixed?!

Back to your point about government spending.... how much is lost to fraudulent claims and billing to Original Medicare?? The medigap plans also pay on those fraudulent bills. Medigap rates then go up.

There must be a more efficient system of checks and balances, within these government spending. Simply catching fraud criminals and putting them away, is not enough.

 

[Duaine]

Terrible. Thanks to all of the VETS here.