Another Social Security "Scare" Story ?

Washington (CNN)Six and a half million dead Americans could be, at this very moment, opening bank accounts, drawing paychecks and applying for credit cards from beyond the grave.

It's not the premise of the latest horror movie. But a new report from the Social Security Administration's inspector general outlining the millions of Social Security numbers affiliated with Americans past a reasonable life expectancy, that don't have any death records attached, is certain to be a nightmare for the agency.

The report found 6.5 million Americans aged 112 or older still have open Social Security numbers. According to the Gerontology Research Group, as of 2013 there were only 35 known living people — worldwide — that had reached that age.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee is holding a hearing on the report Monday afternoon.

The paragraphs above are from a CNN story. Loving something they can try to turn into a scandal, it doesn't surprise me that the media is jumping on this story. It also doesn't surprise me that the congressional Republicans would rush to hold a hearing -- and they'll probably try to use it as an excuse to claim the Social Security system is broken, and must be either privatized or have its funding cut.

But just how important is this glitch in the system? Is the Social Security system paying out huge sums of money in benefits for that 6.5 million people? No. The truth is that only 13 people of that 6.5 million they are talking about actually are receiving Social Security benefits. And if anyone doubts those 13 people deserve their benefits, it would seem to be a small matter to have them checked out. It is obvious that huge sums of money are NOT being paid out to these dead people.

The story goes on to say about 67,000 people filed tax records using some of those numbers even though their names did not match the real name of the person who had that number. That's a pretty tiny number (about 0.010% of the 6.5 million), and since the names didn't match the money could not be refunded. Again, not a real problem.

In addition, employer requests for verification were made on 3,900 of those numbers (or about 0.0006% of the 6.5 million). Again, not a problem. These verifications should have been, and probably were, denied just by checking the birth date (since 112 year olds are not generally out looking for a job).

Now it would be nice if a way could be found to get these names off the government rolls. But don't let the media or the Republicans convince you that this justifies doing anything to hurt Social Security. Social Security works, and has been responsible for reducing the number of seniors living in abject poverty from 50% to about 10%. It would be good to increase benefits, and lift that other 10% out of poverty -- but any claim that the system is broken (or bankrupt) is nonsense.