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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff. You should know, a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, I'm welcome to the podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles w Chuck, Brian, there's Jerry

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Speaker 1: over there. Jerry's not eating anything today. Chalk there is clear?

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Speaker 1: And did you just do that as a coaster? Yes,

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Speaker 1: I don't want to make a chinky sound every time,

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Speaker 1: Like okay, I thought, I don't want that. I want

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Speaker 1: this now, I get it. Did you hear that? You

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Speaker 1: didn't hear anything? No, I'm I said everyone. Josh just

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Speaker 1: folded up his notes and put his can of cola

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Speaker 1: down on that. And I've never seen you do that,

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Speaker 1: And I thought you were trying to preserve this cheap.

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Speaker 1: This thing is tougher than okay. So it was a

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Speaker 1: sound thing. Sure, it's it's a sound dampening technique. Can

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Speaker 1: look at us after all these years, just came up

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Speaker 1: with that up in our game. Um so, Chuck, do

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Speaker 1: you remember we did a Social Security number episode? Did we?

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Speaker 1: I thought, so? You don't remember that one. It was

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Speaker 1: one of those ones where you're like, my eyes are

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Speaker 1: going to bleed because this is so boring. But it

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Speaker 1: turned out to be pretty interesting. It was one of

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Speaker 1: those remember that. But we should give a little bit

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Speaker 1: of a refresher on social security numbers. Okay, yeah, here's mine.

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Speaker 1: Oh you're gonna give your your to eight seven, nine four. No,

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Speaker 1: I don't even because what if I just accidentally said

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Speaker 1: someone else's like made one up that? Yeah, and some

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Speaker 1: dudes listening, it's like, dude, how'd you know Todd? It's

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Speaker 1: always Todd. I don't know. So social Security numbers, get

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Speaker 1: this everybody. They first started being issued in November of

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Speaker 1: nine and the Social Security Administration was created to administer

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Speaker 1: a new deal program of federal benefits, things like welfare

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Speaker 1: or retirement benefits, Medicare UM. The entire reason any of

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Speaker 1: us originally were given a Social Security number was to

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Speaker 1: track our lifetime earnings and to um determine how much

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Speaker 1: we'd put into Social Security so that when we retired,

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Speaker 1: they could determine how much we should get out in retirement.

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Speaker 1: That's why everyone has a sofial security number. And because

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Speaker 1: there are nine digits UM, there's something like a billion

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Speaker 1: different possible combinations, and we're about halfway towards using up

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Speaker 1: the sow security numbers. Interesting but but probably gaining fast.

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Speaker 1: We are starting to gain much faster than we were before.

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Speaker 1: A good point, but we still got plenty of time.

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Speaker 1: But because of this um, social security numbers get retired

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Speaker 1: when you die, which we'll get to. But originally, when

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Speaker 1: when you were given social Security number, that was it.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't meant for anything else but to track your

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Speaker 1: earnings and to figure out your retirement. Right. Yeah, not

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Speaker 1: like when you get to go to get a haircut

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Speaker 1: basically and they ask you for your Social Security number. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: The seventies, the federal government said, okay, there's a couple

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Speaker 1: of other things that you should really have your sol

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Speaker 1: Security number for a passport, um, if you go to

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Speaker 1: open a bank account, that was a new one too.

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Speaker 1: I'll buy that. Um. But then, like you said, like

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Speaker 1: as computers came along, now everybody asks what it's become

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Speaker 1: an identifier in an authenticator And that is really bad.

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Speaker 1: That is not what we should be doing with social

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Speaker 1: Security numbers. It really not only that, but the phone

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Speaker 1: numbers and everything and addresses. It just annoys me. And

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Speaker 1: I'm not like a conspiracy guy. It's not like I think, like, oh,

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Speaker 1: what are they going to do with this? It just

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Speaker 1: annoys me. Well, and I can't get a haircut without provide.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, I have cash in my hand, you have scissors.

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Speaker 1: Can we just do this right? Can we do it

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Speaker 1: like Floyd style? Yeah? You know, but it annoys me.

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Speaker 1: But even if you take away the annoyance, companies have

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Speaker 1: proven time and time and time again that they're not

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Speaker 1: to be trusted protecting your so Security number because to

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Speaker 1: authenticate you saying who you are who you say you are,

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Speaker 1: they've got to have your SOI Security number on file.

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Speaker 1: And when somebody hacks into their databases, they get your

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Speaker 1: SOI Security number. All of your information is right there,

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Speaker 1: and it's become a real problem. But it's also become

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Speaker 1: a real problem living a modern life without giving out

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Speaker 1: your SO Security number. Right. So we say all this

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Speaker 1: to point out that if for some reason, you didn't

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Speaker 1: have a Social Security number any longer, it would be

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Speaker 1: tough to navigate life. And that actually happens to some people. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: if you've seen the movie Brazil, Oh, is it like this?

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Speaker 1: You never saw Brazil? It's it's sort of this in

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Speaker 1: a future dystopian world, but you know, basically like it's

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Speaker 1: it's bureaucracy at its best of someone who's you know,

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Speaker 1: dead or not dead, and the government mixes it up.

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Speaker 1: Is that what Brazil is about? Yeah? I did not

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Speaker 1: know that. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because

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Speaker 1: we would have heard from people. It's a yeah, it's good,

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Speaker 1: right it is. And you should go listen to the

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Speaker 1: movie Crush episode on Brazil with Jonathan Colton. Okay, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I didn't know that one. That one slipped past me.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't talking to you, but sure, you're welcome to listen. Thanks.

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Speaker 1: I'm part of everybody. I had to go to the

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Speaker 1: Social Security Office recently to get a card because of

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Speaker 1: this job in our new company. Really, yeah, I had

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Speaker 1: to prove, you know whatever, that I'm alive. You didn't unemployable.

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Speaker 1: I guess you didn't. Just give him your passport. I

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Speaker 1: couldn't find my passport because I'm in between houses right

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Speaker 1: now and it was buried somewhere. Okay, but you do

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Speaker 1: have it because we're probably going to Toronto this year.

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Speaker 1: I do have it. I did find it kind of

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Speaker 1: after I went to the Social Security Office. But all

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Speaker 1: that was just to say that if you think the

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Speaker 1: d m V is a pit of despair, just go

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Speaker 1: to the social Security want to it's not fun. I

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Speaker 1: really don't want to know. So, um, okay, you can

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Speaker 1: imagine how bad it is when everything's just hunky dory

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Speaker 1: and you just need a copy of your card. That's

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Speaker 1: all you needed. Right For some people, some poor SAPs

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Speaker 1: out there, they are thought by the government and listed

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Speaker 1: by the government as having died. And that is a

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Speaker 1: big problem if you're alive. Yes, because again you need

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Speaker 1: your Social Security number for everything to start with. And

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Speaker 1: then secondly, because we have enough Social Security numbers to

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Speaker 1: go around, Like I said, when you die, you're so

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Speaker 1: security number gets retired with you. They hang in in

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Speaker 1: the rafters of your local NBA franchise. That's exactly right.

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Speaker 1: If you look really closely, they're all up there. But um,

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Speaker 1: that's that is a problem for somebody who gets listed

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Speaker 1: as dead on what's called the death master file. Do

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Speaker 1: I need to say it now? Even somebody listening to

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Speaker 1: the very first stuff you should know right now, they

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Speaker 1: know what you're saying. Here's a bunch good band names

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Speaker 1: in here, but death master files pretty good. So uh,

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Speaker 1: It's also called the Social Security Death Index, but death

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Speaker 1: master files way better. I think you would agree. It

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Speaker 1: depends on who you're talking to. I think genealogists typically

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Speaker 1: call it the S S d I. Everybody else calls

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Speaker 1: it the death master file. That's what I saw, you

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Speaker 1: know why, because they don't know how to party, or

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Speaker 1: they get their own little weird party going on. Oh yeah,

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Speaker 1: I didn't think about that. Um. Yeah, you gotta look

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Speaker 1: at people differently sometimes. I was trying to think of

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Speaker 1: the bumper sticker. Genealogists do it blank in the in

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Speaker 1: the archives. Genealogists do it with their d NA, with

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Speaker 1: their dead ancestors. It's two bumper stickers. Just having ellipses

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Speaker 1: had be kind of fun. So, uh, all right, where

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Speaker 1: were we the d MF Al right, it's it was

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Speaker 1: established the same time the Social Security numbers were back

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Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty six, and then it took all the

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Speaker 1: way until nineteen eighty before the public could even see

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Speaker 1: this list, right right. There was a Freedom of Information

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Speaker 1: Act that was filed back in UM and there was

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Speaker 1: a lawsuit in the federal court said you know what, yeah,

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Speaker 1: this is this is public information. You have to publish this.

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Speaker 1: And there's actually like a master death Master file that's

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Speaker 1: called the New Newmandent and that's like everything, and that's

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Speaker 1: the that's the one that the death master File is

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Speaker 1: derived from, the public version of it is the death

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Speaker 1: master file, right which, when you die, there a bunch

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Speaker 1: of ways that your name can get to the s

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Speaker 1: s A, the Social Security Administration. Sometimes it's a funeral home.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes it's from like a hospital. Sometimes it's from your family, um,

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Speaker 1: because it's the family's responsibility ultimately to report it. But

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Speaker 1: most of the time the funeral home is the one

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Speaker 1: that actually does is like a service. I wouldn't have

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Speaker 1: known that. But I also saw, um, well, now you know, um,

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Speaker 1: there's probably some poor stuff. You should know a listener,

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Speaker 1: our condolences, who's dealing with this right now? It's your

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Speaker 1: responsibility to go report this to the Social Security Administration. Yeah, okay,

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Speaker 1: that's sad. I also saw that your bank, the postal

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Speaker 1: service some other randos are legally allowed to report your

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Speaker 1: death as well, so as the post off post person

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Speaker 1: to saying like I haven't picked up their mail in

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Speaker 1: like three weeks, they're dead to me, I think I

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Speaker 1: should just report this. I don't. I don't know I could.

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Speaker 1: I could not find the procedure from that anything other

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Speaker 1: than a couple of good sources mentioned the postal service

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Speaker 1: as a legal place, the legal entity that can report

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Speaker 1: your death to the Feds. Alright, so why do they

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Speaker 1: want this Death Master File? Of course, if you have

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Speaker 1: paid UM, well, the government needs to know if you're

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Speaker 1: not around anymore. It's kind of that simple. There's a

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Speaker 1: couple of reasons why. Yes, they need to know, because

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Speaker 1: you get a little dough They can't have your sobsecurity

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Speaker 1: number out there. They need to know that you're deceased

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Speaker 1: UM because they don't want to be paying UM income

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Speaker 1: tax refunds if somebody starts following them fraudulently. They don't

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Speaker 1: want people opening bank accounts in your name. They want

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Speaker 1: to make sure that you're listed as dead. And so

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Speaker 1: that's what the Death Master File does. It kind of

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Speaker 1: serves as the storehouse for all the people in America

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Speaker 1: who have been dead basically since the sixties, but it

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Speaker 1: goes as far back as nineteen thirty six or thirty seven,

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Speaker 1: which is surprisingly more than a hundred million people. Yes,

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Speaker 1: but they think that there's maybe up to sixteen million

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Speaker 1: dead people missing from this list. It's not it's not perfect.

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Speaker 1: We'll spoil now. Well, I guess we should then follow

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Speaker 1: that statement by saying there are tens of thousands of

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Speaker 1: people on that list who should not be on that list,

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Speaker 1: right exactly, But before we get to there, um, this

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Speaker 1: Death master File originally was so Social Security could track

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Speaker 1: who was dead and who wasn't, so they could determine

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Speaker 1: who to pay Social Security Administration benefit out to the survivors.

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Speaker 1: Get this, did you know this? If you're in America

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Speaker 1: and you're the recipient, you're the survivor of somebody who

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Speaker 1: gets so Security, you get a cool two hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifty five dollars to help bury them. Yeah, that's when

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Speaker 1: I said you get a little dough that I meant little,

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Speaker 1: a little dough. Yeah, maybe like one of the fancy

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Speaker 1: handles on the casket would be covered by that. I

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Speaker 1: don't even think you can get cremated for two hundred dollars.

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Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't even think they'll leave you

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Speaker 1: in a ditch out back for two hundred dollars. A

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Speaker 1: sky BURI will cost more than that. Maybe that try

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Speaker 1: State crematorium would take your two hundred fifty dollars. But

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Speaker 1: that's it. Do you remember them? Oh? Sure? Yeah? Evil?

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Speaker 1: So uh like you said mistakes are made. And this

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Speaker 1: is where it turns slightly. Brazil. There was an investigation

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Speaker 1: in two thousand and eleven and they actually named grave mistakes,

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Speaker 1: which is hysterical by Scripts Howard News service. And what

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Speaker 1: they did was they took uh this master file from

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Speaker 1: three different years two thou two thousand eleven. They created

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Speaker 1: a computer program to basically just compare them to see

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Speaker 1: what they came up with, and that they found uh third,

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Speaker 1: almost thirty two thousand living people who were listed as

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Speaker 1: decease and ninety eight or two thousand eight that were

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Speaker 1: then taken off that list after they realized that they

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Speaker 1: goofed up two thousand eleven. So these people had spent months, years,

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Speaker 1: maybe um listed as dead. And here's the problem. It's

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Speaker 1: bad enough if you go to apply for Medicare because

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Speaker 1: you've retired or social Security benefits and the government says denied, UM,

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Speaker 1: you're dead and you're listed as dead because as far

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Speaker 1: as the government's concerned, if you're on this, you're dead

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Speaker 1: to them. That's bad enough. But remember that Freedom of

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Speaker 1: Information Act UM lawsuit that opened the thing up to

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Speaker 1: being published publicly. The reason why that suit was filed

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Speaker 1: is because the business community said, hey, we can really

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Speaker 1: use that thing there. It's basically it would be like

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Speaker 1: a big do not take checks from these people list

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Speaker 1: for all dead Americans. Because if somebody comes to us

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Speaker 1: and wants to open a bank account, wants to get

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Speaker 1: an insurance policy, wants to get a car, wants to

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Speaker 1: get a job, it doesn't matter, wants to do something

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Speaker 1: where they could take us for a ride, if they're

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Speaker 1: a fraud, then if we had this list to check against,

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Speaker 1: like social Security numbers or names or whatever, we could

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Speaker 1: root out fraud and we could defend ourselves from identity

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Speaker 1: theft and the fraud that's perpetrated by it. And so banks,

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Speaker 1: insurance companies, car dealerships, cable companies, employers, everybody, other government agencies.

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Speaker 1: They all barbers, they don't forget them. They all use

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Speaker 1: this death Master file, which is available publicly to check

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Speaker 1: your applications against. And if the government it says that

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Speaker 1: you're dead, it says that on this file, whether it's

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Speaker 1: right or wrong, you're dead. And that's a whole lot

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Speaker 1: of problems for you. We're gonna get into those right

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Speaker 1: after this things chop cho stop. So before we broke,

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Speaker 1: I was talking about that. Uh, that scripts um investigation

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Speaker 1: and there was an inspector of General Support in two

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Speaker 1: thousand and eight that kind of pulled back the curtain

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Speaker 1: on this stuff, and Social Security said, uh, yeah, that's

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Speaker 1: about right. There's there's a lot of people tens of

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Speaker 1: thousands that we think are dead and aren't dead, but

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Speaker 1: they're they're success rates pretty good. Yeah, and he said,

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Speaker 1: they said, but we're at a ninety nine point five

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Speaker 1: nine rate of accuracy, which is not too bad for

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Speaker 1: a government bureaucracy. That's really good. And they said that

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Speaker 1: of the time. Can you can fix it in just

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Speaker 1: a year, just a hellish year, Yeah, not too bad. Um.

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Speaker 1: And so they basically admitted two being a government. Uh.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to knock them too much because it

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Speaker 1: feels like everyone's always, you know, knocking government work. But

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Speaker 1: they're basically saying like, yeah, man, these names are miskeeds

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Speaker 1: or these numbers are miss keyeds. Sometimes it happens, yeah,

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Speaker 1: pretty much. So, Um, the thing is that point for

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Speaker 1: one error rate, that's tens of thousands of people every year.

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Speaker 1: There's like two point seven million people added to this

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Speaker 1: list every year who die in America, right, so it

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Speaker 1: adds up to a lot of errors. The thing is

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Speaker 1: the Social Security Administration UM. So they take their deathmasterfile,

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Speaker 1: they hand it over to the National Technical Information Service,

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Speaker 1: and they're the ones who distributed to all the insurance companies,

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Speaker 1: the genealogy websites. I think ancestry dot com publishes it. UM,

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Speaker 1: the yeah, insurance companies, everybody who wants to do a

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Speaker 1: background check on you. They all get their their versions

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Speaker 1: of this from them, the National Technical Information Service. But

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Speaker 1: part of the agreement to get this from them you

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Speaker 1: have to pay for it, is that you have to

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Speaker 1: keep your d MF up to date. Because if you

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Speaker 1: just buy one every once in a while UM, and

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Speaker 1: the Social Security Administration finds an air on and updates

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Speaker 1: their file, if you don't go get the new file,

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Speaker 1: your old file is still going to have that error.

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Speaker 1: And that's when it becomes problematic for the people who

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Speaker 1: are listed as deceased when they try to go get credit,

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Speaker 1: and it kind of has a tendency to spread once

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Speaker 1: it's out there. Yeah, So, like I said, sometimes it's

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Speaker 1: being mis keyed. UM. One. I think they said like

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Speaker 1: one out of every two hundred is just from clerical error. UM.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes it can be like, Um, a family member goes

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Speaker 1: to report to death and they accidentally make a mistake

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Speaker 1: where they might end up being on the death list. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I don't know how that happens, but it does happen.

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Speaker 1: There are people like Don Pilger human error, married du Bord,

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Speaker 1: who who apparently married du Board just gave up. She

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Speaker 1: She's like, my husband can get credit cards still, I'm

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Speaker 1: just gonna live off of it. Uh. Sometimes you this

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Speaker 1: one woman named Candice Atkins just accidentally clicked deceased on

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Speaker 1: a tax return on an electronic filing, and that was it.

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Speaker 1: Can you imagine now? I can't believe there's not an undo?

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Speaker 1: That's yeah, I was looking at me that she had submitted.

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Speaker 1: I guess you could probably undone it in the moment,

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Speaker 1: but she didn't realize it and submitted it. Right, But

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Speaker 1: you should still be able to undo that, you would

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Speaker 1: think so. Um. And then there are some weird things,

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Speaker 1: these uh anomalies that you dug up. Um. More than

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Speaker 1: of false listings made in two thousand seven were from Illinois. YEP.

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Speaker 1: It sounds like a hiccup in the system to me,

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Speaker 1: I hiccup in the system or a super lazy data

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Speaker 1: entry person. I think. Yeah, Uh, more than two million

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Speaker 1: Americans were falsely listed as dying on the fift and

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Speaker 1: that was just an internal policy, is to use the

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Speaker 1: fifteenth as a default value when they didn't know at

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Speaker 1: the middle of the month. Sounds good to me. Um,

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Speaker 1: And I guess that was just the question of not

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Speaker 1: going to the trouble of verifying the information, right so um.

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Speaker 1: And it can happen the other way too, you can

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Speaker 1: be I think at least six million dead Americans are

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Speaker 1: labeled as alive, which is a huge problem because you're

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Speaker 1: you're just you're information is out there ready to be

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Speaker 1: abused by the nefarious. Well, no, that's the opposite. If

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Speaker 1: you're if you're listed as deceased but you're still alive,

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Speaker 1: your information is being published and can be used for

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Speaker 1: identity fraud. If you're actually dead and not listed, if

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Speaker 1: somebody knows that you're dead and not listed, they can

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Speaker 1: use your stuff to to perpetrate fraud against the government. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's what I was saying. Yeah, sixty seven thousand of

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Speaker 1: those people of those numbers were used to report three

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Speaker 1: billion dollars in income between two thousand and six and

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Speaker 1: two thousand eleven, and that's a lot of text return refunds,

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Speaker 1: so fraud. Yeah, so it's a problem both ways, where

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Speaker 1: either you're dead and you're not listed on there, or

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Speaker 1: you're not dead and they listed you anyway. And like

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Speaker 1: I was saying earlier, this, once this information gets out there,

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Speaker 1: because there's so many different entities getting this list, once

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Speaker 1: it's out there, it's days out there, it's very tough

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Speaker 1: to go around to everyone and and get this information changed.

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Speaker 1: Even once you get it changed with the Social Security Administration,

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00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:12,320
Speaker 1: because while it's a requirement to keep your your list

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00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:15,719
Speaker 1: up to date, if you're a subscriber, there's no enforcement

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Speaker 1: to it. There's nobody who comes along and says, let

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Speaker 1: me see your list. Oh it's not a to date,

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00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:24,000
Speaker 1: give me give me ten dollars that you're fine. There's

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Speaker 1: nobody enforcing it. So once it's out there, it's very

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Speaker 1: tough to undo. It takes forever, uh well less than

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Speaker 1: a year on average supposedly. So there are a lot

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Speaker 1: of horror stories, um for what this can due to

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Speaker 1: someone's life. Um, this one person Rivers, what's the first name,

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Speaker 1: Judy Rivers. Judy Rivers Rivers cuomo Um. Police actually detained

348
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Speaker 1: Judy Rivers from using because she used a debit card,

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Speaker 1: her own debit card at a Walmart at Walmart Plus.

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Speaker 1: She also had a mountain dew bottle size lab in

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Speaker 1: her pocket. Uh. But in like it seems like all

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00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:09,600
Speaker 1: of these cases. It ranges from stuff like, um, your

353
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:12,760
Speaker 1: insurance gets all messed up, or your maybe disability checks

354
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Speaker 1: or your Medicaid payments, or you're trying to get a

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Speaker 1: home loan or trying to get a credit card, like

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Speaker 1: anything that you can think of where social Security number

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00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:24,600
Speaker 1: might help. You can't get a haircut. You should see

358
00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:27,320
Speaker 1: how long the hair is on these people. Even if

359
00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:30,520
Speaker 1: you have cash, they won't do it. The Rivers ended

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Speaker 1: up living out of her car for six months. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: she had just a really bad time of it for

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Speaker 1: five years. Um and at first she didn't know what

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Speaker 1: was going on because she was frozen out of her

364
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Speaker 1: bank accounts. Because this is something we said like like

365
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Speaker 1: you you can't get future loans, you can't get future

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Speaker 1: insurance policies, you can't get future credit. But also the

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00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:54,720
Speaker 1: stuff that you already have, your current bank accounts, all

368
00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,919
Speaker 1: that stuff gets frozen because you're listed is dead and

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Speaker 1: so that comes up on the computer and your account

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00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,440
Speaker 1: gets frozen. And even when you show up and say, hey,

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Speaker 1: it's me, you know me, the teller can't do anything

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Speaker 1: about it. The bank can't do anything about it. It's

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Speaker 1: it's done. And now you've just been pitted against the system. Yes,

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Speaker 1: and it's like there's no door you can go knock

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Speaker 1: on and say, hey, we can clear this up in

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Speaker 1: just a few minutes. I'm clearly alive. You just click

377
00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:27,680
Speaker 1: the few little things you need to click to get

378
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Speaker 1: my life back. Because the c US government it's not

379
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Speaker 1: nearly that easy. So I guess, said Chuck. That brings

380
00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:35,760
Speaker 1: up what to do, because there actually are procedures in place,

381
00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:39,000
Speaker 1: Like we said, the Social Security Administration says this is

382
00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:41,679
Speaker 1: not fully accurate. Anybody gets this list needs to keep

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00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,280
Speaker 1: updating it as we update it. I think they released

384
00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:48,160
Speaker 1: an updated list weekly. They don't even tell you though.

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00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:50,560
Speaker 1: You find out the hard way almost always. That's a

386
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Speaker 1: big one. Yeah, it's not like they say, by the way,

387
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:55,479
Speaker 1: we found an error. Um, because they don't know. They

388
00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:58,480
Speaker 1: don't know you're alive. So I actually called the Social

389
00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:03,240
Speaker 1: Security Administration. I did because I wanted answers. You didn't

390
00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:04,840
Speaker 1: go to the office no, I didn't know. It was

391
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:09,640
Speaker 1: a little laterward. It wasn't cowardless, it was laziness. So, UM,

392
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:12,680
Speaker 1: I was talking to like just the the guy who answered,

393
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:14,840
Speaker 1: and he knew exactly what I was talking about, knew

394
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:16,879
Speaker 1: all the procedures. But I asked him, I was like,

395
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,240
Speaker 1: do you guys ever uncover this yourselves? Or is it

396
00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:21,680
Speaker 1: when people come to you that you know there's a mistake.

397
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:24,399
Speaker 1: He's like, yeah, when people come to us. So supposedly

398
00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:26,720
Speaker 1: there's all these reforms in place and all that, but

399
00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:29,800
Speaker 1: I think still for the most part, when an error

400
00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:32,360
Speaker 1: is uncovered, it's because you found it out. But even

401
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:34,920
Speaker 1: if they do find it out, yes, what you said

402
00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:38,800
Speaker 1: is true, they don't inform the person, which is kind

403
00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:42,600
Speaker 1: of a violation of the UM the Privacy Act, right,

404
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,000
Speaker 1: I would think so from what I understand, it is

405
00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:51,280
Speaker 1: like anytime your confidential information is breached and made public, UM,

406
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:53,600
Speaker 1: you're supposed to be informed about that. So the s

407
00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:55,959
Speaker 1: s A should be sending out letters. As far as

408
00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:58,560
Speaker 1: I know, they do not. I love this quote in

409
00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,119
Speaker 1: here UM under the section on what to do, Like

410
00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:05,760
Speaker 1: the Social Security Administration is trying to correct this, and

411
00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:08,960
Speaker 1: there's a quote from someone who works there that said

412
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,280
Speaker 1: that sometimes they'll go out and see if old Americans

413
00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:14,639
Speaker 1: are really still alive, and it it says this, we

414
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 1: go to medicare and see if anyone hasn't been to

415
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:21,520
Speaker 1: medicare for three years, and if they haven't been, we

416
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:23,520
Speaker 1: try to go out and make a phone call to

417
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:26,760
Speaker 1: call them and see if they're you know, still here.

418
00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:32,439
Speaker 1: And the interviewer was like, are you drunk? That's what

419
00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:35,400
Speaker 1: it sounds like. That was the follow up question. Oh man,

420
00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:38,960
Speaker 1: So yeah, they, I mean supposedly because of things like that.

421
00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:43,040
Speaker 1: Scripts Howard News Service investigation in two eleven sixty minutes

422
00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:46,119
Speaker 1: did a big one and I think this is right

423
00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:49,760
Speaker 1: up there, Alley, Yeah for sure. Um, yes, it is

424
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:52,560
Speaker 1: very sixteen minutes kind of story. Like the truth of

425
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:55,399
Speaker 1: what you just have ran through me like a bolt. Um.

426
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:59,760
Speaker 1: But the Social Security Administration has finally kind of started

427
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:03,640
Speaker 1: to be responsive and they are supposedly undertaking reforms, including

428
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:07,959
Speaker 1: having investigators try to root this out themselves, which ironically

429
00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:10,920
Speaker 1: they're relying on other government databases like this guy said

430
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:16,000
Speaker 1: Medicare to check their records against. They've stopped taking reports

431
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:20,400
Speaker 1: from the state and now only except um direct reports

432
00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:23,760
Speaker 1: from people. But that in itself opened up another problem

433
00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:27,480
Speaker 1: because they went back and cleared out the records of

434
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:31,560
Speaker 1: like five million Americans whose deaths have been reported from

435
00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:35,159
Speaker 1: state databases, so that six million went to something like

436
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:38,880
Speaker 1: eleven million of dead people who aren't on there. Now,

437
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:43,280
Speaker 1: are they actually recommending that you pull your credit report

438
00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:48,520
Speaker 1: three times a year? Yes? Really? Yes, that seems like

439
00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:52,159
Speaker 1: I don't know, you're not like that affects your credit.

440
00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:55,520
Speaker 1: I don't know if that one does. I know it's

441
00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:57,679
Speaker 1: free for sure, but I don't know if it affects

442
00:25:57,720 --> 00:25:59,960
Speaker 1: your credit or not. But yeah, so you get access

443
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:03,800
Speaker 1: to your the credit reports from the three big bureaus, right,

444
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:05,560
Speaker 1: are you gonna do that? You have you set up

445
00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:08,520
Speaker 1: calendar reminders? No, I'm going to now like once a

446
00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:10,880
Speaker 1: quarter the rest of your life to make sure you're

447
00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:13,600
Speaker 1: not listed as dead. I haven't had time today yet.

448
00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:16,720
Speaker 1: It seems like if you're an active consumer in the world,

449
00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,600
Speaker 1: you would find out very quickly, very quickly, um, without

450
00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:22,119
Speaker 1: having to do that. Yeah, that script service though. When

451
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:24,920
Speaker 1: they found the like thirty four thousand people who have

452
00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:28,080
Speaker 1: been listed as dead, they tried to contact as many

453
00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:30,280
Speaker 1: of them as they could, and they said about half

454
00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:32,879
Speaker 1: of the people were well aware that they were listed

455
00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:37,080
Speaker 1: as dead names through nightmare struggles, but strangely like half

456
00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:39,879
Speaker 1: had no idea what they were talking about. So it's like,

457
00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 1: what kind of life do you have to live to

458
00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:45,280
Speaker 1: not be aware of that? Because you you or I

459
00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:47,239
Speaker 1: would come up against it within a week or a

460
00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:49,800
Speaker 1: month or something. It seems like like there would be

461
00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:51,840
Speaker 1: something that came up where it's like, wait a minute,

462
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:55,679
Speaker 1: but like it says this information isn't is incomplete, or

463
00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:57,680
Speaker 1: it says you're dead or something like that. We find

464
00:26:57,680 --> 00:26:59,280
Speaker 1: out pretty or just to go get money out of

465
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:03,040
Speaker 1: a cash machine, it might say, sorry, your pen doesn't work.

466
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,520
Speaker 1: But I think the recommendation is in addition to finding

467
00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,280
Speaker 1: out that your listed is dead, there's also a lot

468
00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:11,600
Speaker 1: of other stuff that that you can kind of keep

469
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:15,200
Speaker 1: tabs on by looking at your credit report three times

470
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,200
Speaker 1: a year, once every four months. Yeah, And they say

471
00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:21,679
Speaker 1: the real solution for all of us would be if

472
00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:25,960
Speaker 1: every company on the planet doesn't require Well here's the thing, though,

473
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:30,359
Speaker 1: they can't legally require your Social Security number two open

474
00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:33,600
Speaker 1: up or start a telephone in your name at a home,

475
00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:36,520
Speaker 1: but they'll ask for it, and if you refuse to

476
00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:39,239
Speaker 1: give it, like you may not be able to get

477
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:40,560
Speaker 1: at all, or you may just have a really really

478
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:42,919
Speaker 1: hard time. Yeah, they can refuse to do business with you.

479
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,480
Speaker 1: And that's the crux of the problem because that de

480
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:50,439
Speaker 1: facto means that you need to play ball, whether you

481
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:52,800
Speaker 1: want to give your Social Security number out or not

482
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:57,480
Speaker 1: to if you want that internet service or that cable service,

483
00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:00,960
Speaker 1: or you want that haircut, you're gonna have to a ball. Yeah,

484
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:03,879
Speaker 1: it was I remember growing up. It was a like

485
00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:07,040
Speaker 1: I remember I had a Social Security card and I

486
00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:09,720
Speaker 1: remember my mom being like, you gotta put that in

487
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:13,280
Speaker 1: your destroyer. Remember, don't touch it ever. If somebody comes

488
00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:16,880
Speaker 1: near your your drawer, you shoot them with with this gun. Yeah.

489
00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:19,240
Speaker 1: It was crazy. And now it's just like I'd probably

490
00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 1: give out my Social like twice a month. Right. But

491
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,359
Speaker 1: but because of those breaches, because so many people have

492
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:30,399
Speaker 1: your Social Security number now, and because hackers have gotten

493
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:32,840
Speaker 1: really good at getting into things like UM I think

494
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:36,720
Speaker 1: it was Experience or TransUnion who were hacked in two

495
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:42,239
Speaker 1: thousand seventeen U UM that that was it was not

496
00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:45,520
Speaker 1: only I read not only did it basically just totally

497
00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:49,080
Speaker 1: erode the public's trust and credit bureaus to keep our

498
00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:52,280
Speaker 1: stuff private, like they were the ones who were supposed

499
00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:55,040
Speaker 1: to be unhackable. And I think a hundred and thirty

500
00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:59,600
Speaker 1: seven million social security numbers made it out into the

501
00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:03,880
Speaker 1: why old from that hack um that that that not

502
00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:06,520
Speaker 1: only eroded trust in the credit cars, it was the

503
00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:09,240
Speaker 1: beginning of the end for using social security numbers like

504
00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:12,959
Speaker 1: we do to authenticate or as identify irs companies. Some

505
00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:15,320
Speaker 1: are moving away from that now, right, yeah, because they're

506
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:18,040
Speaker 1: getting sued and they're getting fines and they just realized

507
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:20,719
Speaker 1: they can't keep this stuff protected. The problem is no

508
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,440
Speaker 1: one knows what's next. A lot of people have talked

509
00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:27,120
Speaker 1: about like blockchain, but nobody understands blockchain, which, by the way,

510
00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:31,360
Speaker 1: we should totally do a blockchain episode, um, but everybody's

511
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:33,360
Speaker 1: kind of like, it's probably gonna be blockchain, but first

512
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:35,880
Speaker 1: time to go figure out what blockchain is, and then

513
00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:38,920
Speaker 1: we'll figure out how to do social security numbers through blockchain.

514
00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:40,920
Speaker 1: I'm sure in some offices they're like, you know, the

515
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:44,400
Speaker 1: old barcode on the back of the neck seems silly,

516
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:48,320
Speaker 1: but surewood work. Have you seen Brazil? Should we take

517
00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:51,480
Speaker 1: a break? Oh yeah, let's all right, let's take another break,

518
00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:54,440
Speaker 1: and we're gonna talk a little bit about the rest

519
00:29:54,520 --> 00:30:01,240
Speaker 1: of the world right after this and things and chop

520
00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:29,880
Speaker 1: cho so chuck, We're going around the world in eighty

521
00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:33,479
Speaker 1: days in our nice little balloon. Actually, I said, we're

522
00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:34,800
Speaker 1: going to talk about the rest of the world. We're

523
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,120
Speaker 1: only going to talk about one more place in the world. Hey, man,

524
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:43,440
Speaker 1: I got Canada. Oh yeah, the UK. Okay, Basically, anywhere

525
00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:46,560
Speaker 1: there's a country with a bureaucracy, in a country where

526
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:49,920
Speaker 1: people die, there's going to be someone erroneously listed as dead.

527
00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:53,760
Speaker 1: All right, so let's go to India. Okay that in India.

528
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:57,520
Speaker 1: It's not always an accident. Uh, sometimes it's an error.

529
00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,880
Speaker 1: But sometimes, um, you can do what they call quote

530
00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:04,680
Speaker 1: killing people on paper end quote um, in order to

531
00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:09,720
Speaker 1: say their property is mine, to lay claim to something legally,

532
00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:13,440
Speaker 1: you can, uh, you can do so especially, I mean

533
00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:16,560
Speaker 1: they don't. It's not legal, but it's something that happens. No,

534
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,920
Speaker 1: you can bribe an official who will say, yeah, okay, yes,

535
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,880
Speaker 1: this person is dead, thank you for reporting their death.

536
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:28,240
Speaker 1: Here is their land or cousin or whoever. Well, supposedly

537
00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:33,360
Speaker 1: in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Um, it's become

538
00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:36,000
Speaker 1: a real problem there. Um And there was a man.

539
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:41,440
Speaker 1: There is a man named Lal Bahari who in nineteen

540
00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:43,640
Speaker 1: seventy six, at the age of twenty two, found out

541
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:47,640
Speaker 1: he was listed as dead and his uncle. Did his

542
00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:49,880
Speaker 1: uncle do this or did his uncle just get the land?

543
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:53,320
Speaker 1: And uncle's family, Uh, his uncle's family, they're the one

544
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:56,720
Speaker 1: that that purposefully listed him as dead just so they

545
00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:58,720
Speaker 1: could get the land. He went to go get a

546
00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:00,760
Speaker 1: business loan. He was a loom and he went to

547
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:03,160
Speaker 1: get a business loan. And to get a business loan,

548
00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:06,360
Speaker 1: he needed documentation of his identity. When he went to

549
00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:11,320
Speaker 1: go get that, the local records office is like, you're dead.

550
00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:15,040
Speaker 1: And it took him seventeen years to undead himself. Yeah,

551
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:18,440
Speaker 1: fortunately for the world. He had a great sense of

552
00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:23,000
Speaker 1: um absurdity of humor like yes, but also like the

553
00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,480
Speaker 1: humor in absurdity, like he he realized, like this is

554
00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:30,440
Speaker 1: so preposterous, and he really used that as motivation to

555
00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:35,160
Speaker 1: make huge moves. Yeah, he would answer the phone um

556
00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 1: as dead person, which is uh talk is that he

557
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:44,360
Speaker 1: would pronounced I think he would answer the phone like that.

558
00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:48,360
Speaker 1: He organized the Uttar Pradesh Retalk Singh which is Udra

559
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:52,960
Speaker 1: Pradesh Dead People's Association. And it seems like really brought

560
00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:56,719
Speaker 1: a lot of like attention to this through like almost

561
00:32:56,720 --> 00:33:01,240
Speaker 1: like public absurdist public demonstrations e shamings too, Yeah, like

562
00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:05,120
Speaker 1: parades of dead people walking around on the steps of

563
00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:08,680
Speaker 1: like the government buildings and stuff like that. And finally

564
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:13,040
Speaker 1: he did have his death overturned legally. Um, did you

565
00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:15,800
Speaker 1: see whether or not he got his land? I didn't

566
00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:19,000
Speaker 1: see that. Actually a great question. I didn't even think

567
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,040
Speaker 1: about that, but yeah I I did not. I don't know,

568
00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:28,280
Speaker 1: but two people, um, because of his efforts in that

569
00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:33,440
Speaker 1: area of India where had their deaths overturned. Yeah, that

570
00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:35,520
Speaker 1: was just in one year even which why I think

571
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:39,000
Speaker 1: is cool about him as he founded this organization and

572
00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:43,160
Speaker 1: got his life back in ninety four but still stayed

573
00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:45,560
Speaker 1: on as the you know, the driving force behind the

574
00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:50,760
Speaker 1: Udapradesh Dead Person's Association and won an Ignoble prize for it.

575
00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:53,600
Speaker 1: Not bad. We did an episode on that too, You

576
00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:56,440
Speaker 1: remember the ignobles Man. That was a long time ago,

577
00:33:56,640 --> 00:33:59,640
Speaker 1: ye yea. So one more thing I we never really

578
00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:02,440
Speaker 1: actually he said what to do if you end up

579
00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:05,880
Speaker 1: listed incorrectly is dead on the death Master file, start

580
00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:11,080
Speaker 1: answering the phone is dead Chuck, Yeah, exactly, shame the government. Also,

581
00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:13,680
Speaker 1: the other thing you're supposed to do first is go

582
00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:16,960
Speaker 1: in person to your local Social Security Administration. And by

583
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:19,560
Speaker 1: the way, this is information directly from the s s

584
00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:24,000
Speaker 1: A to me to you, because I called them. The

585
00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:26,600
Speaker 1: guy said, just bring a driver's license at passport and

586
00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:28,399
Speaker 1: we'll handle it from there. And I was like, wait,

587
00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:32,680
Speaker 1: that's it. He's like, yeah, you know, the information matches,

588
00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:35,200
Speaker 1: your picture matches. That's all you need. And he said

589
00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:37,120
Speaker 1: and by handle it, you'll mean nothing will happen here.

590
00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:39,640
Speaker 1: That's right, right, And I go, so do you give

591
00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:42,279
Speaker 1: the person? So they give you a letter saying this

592
00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:45,800
Speaker 1: person is alive, they were listed as deceased by mistake,

593
00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:49,440
Speaker 1: give them their credit or whatever. Um, we love you,

594
00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:52,200
Speaker 1: So Security Administration And I said, do you do you

595
00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:54,719
Speaker 1: give the letter then once they prove it or um.

596
00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:57,640
Speaker 1: He's like no, once the file is updated, then we

597
00:34:57,760 --> 00:35:01,040
Speaker 1: typically send the letter out. And I was like, how

598
00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:04,879
Speaker 1: long is that? You know? And it's weeks easily, if

599
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:07,279
Speaker 1: not months before you're going to get a letter. But

600
00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:08,960
Speaker 1: if you find out the first thing you want to

601
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:11,359
Speaker 1: do go to your local SO Security office with your

602
00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:16,080
Speaker 1: passport and or your driver's license and say surprised. Yeah,

603
00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:18,000
Speaker 1: I saw that one person even had to have a

604
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:23,320
Speaker 1: note from their doctor verifying that they were indeed alive. Weird,

605
00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:28,319
Speaker 1: weird life. That must be weird country. So, uh, if

606
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:30,800
Speaker 1: you want to know more about the death master file,

607
00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:33,240
Speaker 1: you can go look it up. It's kind of interesting actually,

608
00:35:33,239 --> 00:35:36,359
Speaker 1: as far as bureaucracy goes. And since I said bureaucracy,

609
00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:42,480
Speaker 1: it's time for a listener, ma'am, I'm gonna call this um.

610
00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:44,680
Speaker 1: This is a follow up on the rape Kits episode,

611
00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:47,840
Speaker 1: which we got a lot of amazing and sad stories

612
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:51,560
Speaker 1: from that one. Uh. This is about the money. The

613
00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:54,319
Speaker 1: money's because remember on the show we said that you

614
00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 1: know you don't you have to pay for that stuff

615
00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:02,479
Speaker 1: for treatment. Yeah, apparently you can get money back, which

616
00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:04,480
Speaker 1: we meant to go back and re record a section

617
00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:07,480
Speaker 1: and did not. So this is by means of following

618
00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:10,920
Speaker 1: up on that. Hey, guys, a longtime listener, first time

619
00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:13,600
Speaker 1: writer finished the episode on rape Kits and realize I

620
00:36:13,600 --> 00:36:16,040
Speaker 1: could offer some information that will hopefully bring some peace

621
00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:18,880
Speaker 1: of mind. I work as a medical biller for a

622
00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:22,040
Speaker 1: hospital in the Midwest. Part of my job is processing

623
00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:24,760
Speaker 1: the sexual assault claims that come in at our hospital.

624
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:27,520
Speaker 1: We have a program for those who present to the

625
00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:31,880
Speaker 1: hospital UH after a sexual assault. We in partner with

626
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:34,680
Speaker 1: the state, cover all the charges that result from the

627
00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:36,920
Speaker 1: initially our visit, and the patient has given a voucher

628
00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:39,600
Speaker 1: for any relevant follow up care that they may need

629
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,839
Speaker 1: over the next three months. Is awesome, it is, and

630
00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:45,720
Speaker 1: we realized that a lot of states do this after

631
00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:49,080
Speaker 1: we had recorded and published the show. I'm so glad,

632
00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:51,880
Speaker 1: this person wrote in this Yeah, it is good to know.

633
00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:55,080
Speaker 1: We also take steps to ensure that the patient will

634
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:57,840
Speaker 1: never see a bill or be contacted by our department

635
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:01,840
Speaker 1: regards to their visit to reduce any retraum mitization. I'm

636
00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:04,520
Speaker 1: the point person for this process here handle all the

637
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:07,960
Speaker 1: claims personally. I'm not sure how many hospitals implement this program,

638
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:10,160
Speaker 1: but I hope this helps you all know that at

639
00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:12,000
Speaker 1: least here we do as much as we can to

640
00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:15,600
Speaker 1: alleviate any unnecessary burden from our patients during the stressful

641
00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:18,560
Speaker 1: and sensitive times. Great thanks for all you guys do.

642
00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:21,800
Speaker 1: You have transformed many days years spent in a cubicle

643
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:25,239
Speaker 1: into opportunities to learn. Keep doing the great work, and

644
00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:30,280
Speaker 1: that is from Maria. Thank you very much. That was amazing. Yeah, Maria,

645
00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:33,080
Speaker 1: thanks for doing that job too. That's tough stuff. That

646
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:37,680
Speaker 1: was the antithesis of another email we got, who basically said,

647
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:41,200
Speaker 1: regarding your little soapbox about how society should take on

648
00:37:41,239 --> 00:37:44,800
Speaker 1: that cost, keep your politics to yourself because I disagree.

649
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:47,360
Speaker 1: I don't know if I saw that one. It was

650
00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:49,439
Speaker 1: a bad one and I just wanted to say that

651
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:52,600
Speaker 1: that person is a butt head. Oh no, wait, maybe

652
00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:55,360
Speaker 1: I did see that. I couldn't even bring myself to respond.

653
00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:57,319
Speaker 1: I think I did, and I did respond. Oh what

654
00:37:57,400 --> 00:37:59,680
Speaker 1: did you say? I don't remember. Did you tell him

655
00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:03,439
Speaker 1: they're hecko jump in a lake? There? Um? Well, if

656
00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:05,719
Speaker 1: you want to get in touch with us, whether we

657
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:08,120
Speaker 1: think you're a butt head or a saint, it doesn't matter.

658
00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:11,719
Speaker 1: We still want to hear from you, you can go

659
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:15,000
Speaker 1: onto stuff you shao dot com check out our social links.

660
00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:17,560
Speaker 1: You can also send us a good old fashioned email,

661
00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:20,760
Speaker 1: wrap it up, spank it on the bottom, uh, spray

662
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:24,239
Speaker 1: with perfume, and send it off to stuff podcast at

663
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:29,400
Speaker 1: i heeart radio dot com. Stuff you Should Know is

664
00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:31,879
Speaker 1: a production of I Heeart Radios. How stuff Works from

665
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:33,960
Speaker 1: more podcasts for my heart Radio is at the iHeart

666
00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:36,880
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever listen to your favorite

667
00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:37,200
Speaker 1: chips