News
$36.6 million paid to deceased farmers
The General Accounting Office (GAO) says a random sampling of USDA’s program rolls matched up with the Social Security Administration master list of deceased individuals found from 2008 through 2012; 6,336 people got $36.6 million in conservation program payments, crop insurance subsidies or disaster assistance more than a year after they died.
The GAO report says the Risk Management Agency paid $22 million to an estimated 3,434 individuals one or two years after their death. The Natural Resources Conservation Service paid $10.6 million to 1,103 deceased individuals and the Farm Service Agency doled-out $3.3 million to 1,799 people after their death.
USDA recently received approval to use Social Security death records and FSA has adopted procedures to check with Social Security on a quarterly basis. Meanwhile the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Risk Management Agency have no procedures to make sure their payments are proper.
In a letter to the GAO, USDA stated it “”generally agrees with the report’s findings.”
Payments were made after the passing but were the claims made when there were alive?
If so wouldn’t the estate be entitled to this money?