The federal government knows when people are born, but not always when they die

You’ve heard the stories. People receiving Social Security payouts after they’ve died. It all stems from whether the Social Security Administration has the latest and most complete death records. Problem is, those are administered by the states. Last year Congress asked the National Academy of Public Administration to examine the sources of data for Social Security and how well it can access them. To ask about what they found, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with the study’s co-author, Barbara Bovjberg.