Treasury announced that it has deployed a new system designed to prevent payments to deceased individuals, aiming to curb waste and fraud in federal disbursements.
The verification framework screens 885 million federal payments against an expanded death records database, effectively auditing nearly $2.7 trillion in transactions.
So far, the system has flagged and stopped about $99 million in payments that would otherwise have gone to deceased recipients.
In a statement, the Treasury Secretary emphasized that the measure fulfills a commitment to strengthen payment integrity and stop improper disbursements before they occur.
The initiative follows an executive order focused on safeguarding government funds from fraud and waste.
More than 4,900 payments associated with deceased payees were returned to the originating agencies for further review.
The program relies on access to the Social Security Administration’s Full Death Master File, initially provided under a three‑year pilot authorized by recent appropriations legislation.
Congress made the database access permanent in February, after passing legislation to eliminate improper payments to deceased individuals.
Treasury plans to broaden the verification system across federal agencies as part of a comprehensive effort to halt questionable payments before they leave government accounts.
A news conference scheduled for Tuesday will outline additional federal actions to protect taxpayer dollars, featuring leaders from health and human services and Medicare and Medicaid.
