A man mistakenly declared dead lost his insurance. How federal cuts could make fixes harder

A Maryland man lost his health insurance after the government mistakenly declared him dead, his family told the News4 I-Team. To pay for the dialysis he needed to live, his wife says she spent thousands of dollars out of pocket.

Allen Mitchell’s headstone says he died on March 10. But according to the government, he died months earlier, in a complication that’s been doubly heartbreaking for his family.

For years, the I-Team has tracked people who have been mistakenly declared dead. After many federal employees have been terminated in the past year, the problems could be harder to prevent and fix because many government experts are gone, according to experts with the agency.

Mitchell was a loving father and husband who was devoted to his two daughters. He loved cars, motorcycles, his pet parrot and his favorite recliner, where he rooted for the Commanders.

“Every morning, he’d sit out here at the kitchen table, and I’d fix his hot tea for him, and he’d say, ‘I love you,’” his widow, Margaret Mitchell said.

Last year, he was diagnosed with kidney failure, requiring dialysis and other procedures. Through it all, he never lost his sense of humor, his wife said.

“Even on days when he wasn’t feeling well, the nurses would say, ‘How are you doing, Mr. Mitchell?’ And he’d say, ‘Great, like Tony the Tiger,’” she said.

Allen was covered on his wife’s government health insurance. Last December, the couple visited their local Social Security office so he could apply for Medicare B, since he was authorized for coverage due to his kidney disease, to help with upcoming treatments.

That’s when they got unbelievable news.

“The clerk looked at her computer, and she said, ‘Oh no.’ I said, ‘What’s the matter?’ She said, ‘Your husband’s shown as being deceased in the system,’” Margaret Mitchell said.

“His eyes just got big as saucers, and he pulled his mask down. He said, ‘I’m right here. I’m alive,’” she said.

No one could tell them where the mistake happened, but they were assured it would be fixed.

Months later, his wife says things got worse. Her husband’s Medicare B application was denied and his health insurance under her policy was canceled.

“It was a nightmare, I never tried so hard to get this straightened out, and I wasn’t getting any answers – no help from anybody,” she said.

Without health insurance, she says she spent thousands on health care out of pocket.

“I was telling the dialysis center, because they were threatening to stop his dialysis, and I said, ‘No, you will not.’ I said, ‘Just bill me.’ I said, ‘He needs this to stay alive,’” she said.

How one mistake can upend someone’s life for years

Claire Green is very familiar with these kinds of life-altering mistakes; she’s the former staff director of the Social Security Advisory Board.

“I don’t know that anybody knows for sure where the errors happen,” she said.

The board released a report in 2019 showing 7,000 to 12,000 people are mistakenly declared dead each year.

The Social Security Administration told the I-Team its records are “highly accurate.” They said that of the 3 million deaths reported to the agency each year, less than 1% have errors.

“Social Security has a ton of workloads – more than they can handle,” Green said.

The I-Team asked her where any errors in the death master file fall in terms of priority.

“On a day-to-day basis of just trying to manage workloads, I can’t say that it’s a high priority,” she said.

Attorney Hans Lodge represents people who are mistakenly reported as dead. He said in his experience, errors happen either when the agency applies a death certificate to someone with a name similar to someone who died or when a creditor makes a typo.

“The problem is, once typos get entered into data systems and the systems believe them to be true, it’s very hard to change that,” Lodge said.

“One mistake could upend someone’s life for a number of years,” he added.

Another man’s four-year fight to prove he’s alive

For four years, Darby Nye has dealt with the domino effect of mistakenly being declared dead. He says it impacted his credit, health insurance and pension. He’s spent hours on the phone with agencies to prove he’s alive.

“It was not my fault. It was a mistake somebody made three-and-a-half years ago. It’s taken me a lot of time and effort to get it corrected. I’m not sure it still is yet corrected,” he said.

He found out this year that his IRS account was locked because the agency believes he’s dead.

For the past four and a half months, Charles Roberts and his neice have been trying to prove that he’s not dead. News4’s Jackie Bensen reports.

Why losing Social Security experts matters

After thousands of Social Security Administration staffers have been cut with buyouts and retirements, Darby said he worries that mistakes like what he still faces might not be a priority.

“I worried that something like this may never get resolved. It may linger in some ancient computer system on some drive somewhere,” he said.

Green, formerly of the Social Security Advisory Board, said the staffing changes could have effects.

“I think that losing the number of of experts on these issues is really difficult. The research staff is critical to being able to understand, you know, how the issues, how these happen,” she said.

But she said she thinks the problem is fixable.

“The board made a pretty bold move in 2019 in their report saying, you know what? SSA should be out of this business, give it give it to somebody like Treasury that has more expertise,” she said.

In 2023, the Treasury Department was granted temporary access to the agency’s full death master file in an effort to reduce fraud and improper payments.

“They’re working and concentrated very much on, you know, trying to ensure the integrity of the data that they are collecting. So, I think there’s some hope there,” she said.

For Margaret Mitchell and her family, their focus and fight have changed as they prepare for their first Christmas without their husband and father. She said she has over $15,000 in bills.

The I-Team asked if she thinks she should have to pay them.

“No, I don’t I think I should have to. Because I believe that is due to the negligence of the Social Security Administration. They should be penalized,” she said.

As she tried to correct her husband’s death status with the Social Security Administration, she lost the love of her life. He passed away at home.

Margaret Mitchell said she’ll continue to advocate on her husband’s behalf for what she believes he was due.

“I know if the tables were turned, he’d do the same for me. He was my soulmate. And I miss him,” she said.

No one from the Social Security Administration would talk to the I-Team about Allen Mitchell’s case, citing privacy issues. But they asked for her information.

The I-Team was able to confirm where the mistake might have started. Another man named Allen Mitchell died in November 2024. His son told News4 the wrong Social Security number originally appeared on his father’s death certificate. The I-Team checked and found that number belonged to Margaret Mitchell’s husband.

She said she’s been going back and forth with the Social Security Administration. She said it’s still unclear if she ever will be reimbursed for some of the out-of-pocket expenses that likely would have been covered under Medicare B. She said she continues to get bills, even just last week.