Title: Government Pays Dead People
Original CoS Document (slug): government-pays-dead-people
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Created: 2023-07-15 16:18:14
Updated: 2024-03-04 07:52:17
Published: 2023-07-17 00:00:00
Converted: 2025-04-14T21:25:51.742249595
Lack of oversight and accountability has been a prominent characteristic of Washington when spending our money.
In September 2020, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report detailing the improper payments made by the federal government, including over $2.8 billion in payments to deceased individuals. The payments were made in Medicaid, Medicare, Federal Pensions, Social Security Payments, and farm subsidies.
The payments in these social security programs seem justified, though when you hear that billions each year are paid to ghosts; it is then outrageous.
Paying dead people is not new. The Federal government has made these payments for over a decade. According to Forbes and OpenTheBooks, the Federal government has wasted $2.3 trillion of our tax dollars on improper payments since 2004.
This money should have been used to fund critical programs and services that benefit the living, not to pad the bank accounts of deceased individuals.
Stay tuned to our Blog to know more about how your government is frittering away your money.
Source: Open the Books, Improper Payments, November 2020
Tags: #mifederalfritters