NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — While many Americans worry that the Social Security Administration won’t have enough money left to pay their benefits when they retire, the agency is doling out millions of dollars to people who aren’t even alive.
The Social Security inspector general estimates that the agency has made $40.3 million in erroneous payments to deceased beneficiaries — even though the administration had already recorded their deaths in its records. The estimate is based on a sample tested during its most recent audit in January 2008, the watchdog agency said.
