Durbin questions Illinois rate of false deaths

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Sen. Dick Durbin

Updated: November 16, 2011 1:26AM

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has asked the Social Security Administration why its Death Master File lists so many Illinoisans as dead when they are still alive.

Durbin’s inquiry follows a report last week by the SouthtownStar newspaper that told the stories of two south suburban men who were shocked to learn of their “deaths,” and the problems they encountered when they tried to get jobs and file for benefits checks because of the false listing.

Illinois has the third-highest rate of such mistakes in the country, according to a Scripps Howard News Service report. Nationally, about 14,000 of these errors occur every year.

Last week, Durbin sent a letter to Michael Astrue, commissioner of the Social Security Administration, to find out why the errors are happening.

“What steps have been taken to ensure that these reporting errors will be corrected and what plans are in place to avoid these problems in the future?” Durbin wrote.

He commended the agency’s “high rate of accuracy” — 99.5 percent — but he expressed concern about those who were incorrectly listed as deceased.

“This error can cause significant challenges” in getting it corrected, Durbin said.

He also was concerned that the number of false reports of deaths in Illinois quadrupled from 461 to 1,675 between 2007 and 2008, according to the Scripps Howard report. “What changed between 2007 and 2008 to explain the dramatic increase?” Durbin asked in his letter. He concluded by saying he looked forward to working with Astrue to “ensure that the proper safeguards are in place to significantly reduce these errors.”