A Washington County business owner was declared dead by the federal government despite being very much alive. Identity experts say it’s occurring often enough that consumers should be aware and know the steps they need to take.
Bill Gunzburg and his wife Patty work together at PA Beauty Supply, a Carnegie business they’ve owned for decades.
On April 2nd, Patty took a call from their health care broker, asking if Bill was OK.
Bill says their broker was acting strange, so his wife asked the broker what was going on.
The health broker informed them that the Social Security Administration had changed Bill’s status to deceased two months earlier on Jan. 29.
Then the notifications started rolling in.
“The first letter came after I learned I was deceased,” said Bill.
It was a letter from Aetna, Bill’s health insurance carrier, addressed to Bill’s estate. It read, “Medicare told them of his death.”
Another came from a bank offering “condolences during this trying time.”
Accounts were closed. Lines of credit...canceled.
“I had two American Express cards that were canceled for business. I had several other personal cards canceled,” Bill said.
So, Bill called the Social Security Administration.
“I think it was the first or second phone call, one of them laughed and said, ’You’re like the fifth or sixth person that called about this in the past week,” Bill said.
James E. Lee is the president of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit that counsels and educates consumers with identity issues.
“It (being erroneously declared dead) happens frequently enough that the Social Security Administration actually has a page on their website telling you what to do if that happens to you,” said Lee.
He says SSA is the first call. They can issue a “proof of life” letter.
“That begins to unwind all the effects of when you’re erroneously listed as deceased,” said Lee.
Lee says the next step is to send that letter to any institution that would need your Social Security number: Banks, health care providers, credit card companies and even state agencies like PennDOT and the PA Game Commission.
Bill says he still does not know how the mistake happened. It took one in-person visit to the SSA office in Washington County, 15-20 hours on the phone, and three days to return from the dead.
“By April 5th, I had everything resurrected. I was back alive, and I was back on my health care,” said Bill.
Bill says he feels very fortunate that he did not need to use his health insurance during the two months that it had been canceled, and he says he’s still discovering programs he’s been removed from, like his gas perks, because of the SSA death declaration.
The Social Security Administration says in a release posted to their website that less than “one-third of one percent” of death listings are mistakenly reported deaths.
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