WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government has clawed back more than $31 million in Social Security payments that improperly went to dead people. One U.S. official says that recovery amount is “just the tip of the iceberg.” The money was reclaimed as part of a five-month pilot program after Congress gave the Treasury temporary access to the Social Security Administration’s “Full Death Master File” for three years as part of the omnibus appropriations bill in 2021. The SSA maintains the most complete federal database of individuals who have died, and the file contains records that go back to 1899. The Treasury projects that it will recover more than $215 million over three years.
