Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act
Click any stage to learn more about the legislative process.
The bill would permanently require the Social Security Administration to share death record data with the Treasury Department's Do Not Pay system, which agencies use to screen for improper payments to deceased people.
It would also add a new safeguard requiring clear and convincing evidence before someone is recorded as deceased, and would require notifying affected agencies when a person is wrongly marked dead.
What this bill would do
What it would do
The bill would amend the Social Security Act to make permanent a requirement that the Commissioner of Social Security share death record information with the agency operating the Do Not Pay working system, a Treasury Department database agencies use to check for improper payments before sending money to individuals, including deceased people. It would also require the Social Security Administration and the Do Not Pay system's operating agency to agree on a methodology for sharing the cost of state death data.
The bill would add a new safeguard: the Commissioner could not record someone as deceased unless there is clear and convincing evidence supporting that determination. It would also require notifying any agency with a cooperative data-sharing arrangement when a person was incorrectly recorded as deceased, so that agency can correct its own records. The amendments would take effect December 27, 2026.
Key provisions
- 1Would make permanent the Social Security Administration's sharing of death record data with the Do Not Pay working system to prevent improper payments
- 2Would require Social Security and the Do Not Pay system's operating agency to agree on a cost-sharing methodology for state death data
- 3Would bar the Commissioner from recording someone as deceased without clear and convincing evidence supporting that determination
- 4Would require notifying agencies with data-sharing arrangements when an individual was incorrectly identified as deceased
Who would be affected
The Social Security Administration, the Treasury Department agency operating the Do Not Pay system, other federal and state agencies that rely on death data to prevent improper payments, and individuals who are incorrectly recorded as deceased and could otherwise lose access to benefits.
Why it matters
Making the data-sharing permanent, rather than temporary, would give agencies ongoing tools to catch and prevent payments to deceased individuals. The added evidentiary standard and error-notification requirement are meant to reduce wrongful "death" records that can cut off benefits for people who are actually alive.
What would change
Changes to existing law
Amends Social Security Act, Section 205(r) (Sec. 2(a))
Replaces the temporary Do Not Pay data-sharing requirement with a permanent one and adds an evidentiary standard for recording deaths.
Amends Social Security Act, Section 205(r)(7) (Sec. 2(b))
Adds a requirement to notify agencies with cooperative arrangements when someone is incorrectly identified as deceased.
Agencies directed to act
Effective dates
- The amendments making death-data sharing permanent and adding the new safeguards
How implementation would work
The Social Security Administration would continue furnishing death record data to the agency operating the Do Not Pay system under a cooperative arrangement, with the two agencies negotiating and periodically reviewing a methodology for sharing the cost of state death data. Before recording someone as deceased, the Commissioner would need to find clear and convincing evidence supporting that determination. If an individual is later found to have been incorrectly recorded as deceased, the Social Security Administration would notify any agency that received the erroneous data through a cooperative arrangement, so that agency could correct its own records and restore any wrongly withheld payments.
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 371.
Official CRS summary
Show the CRS summaryHide the CRS summary
This bill permanently allows the Department of the Treasury to access certain death records maintained by the Social Security Administration (SSA) in order to facilitate the identification and prevention of improper payments (e.g., payments to deceased individuals).
Current law requires the SSA to share its Death Master File with the Do Not Pay system maintained by Treasury for three years. The bill makes this requirement permanent.
Legislative subjects
Disability assistance; Intergovernmental relations; Social Welfare; Social security and elderly assistance
Committee report
H. Rept. 119-426