For Americans over 65, a single mistyped digit in a government database can abruptly cut off healthcare and monthly benefits. Each year, thousands of living citizens are mistakenly flagged as deceased by the Social Security Administration (SSA), triggering an automated cascade that halts Medicare, freezes bank accounts and invalidates prescription coverage at the pharmacy counter.

While these errors are rare, when an individual’s Social Security number is accidentally entered into the federal " Death Master File ," the fallout can be devastating. Fixing it requires immediate action — starting with an in-person visit to your local Social Security office.

The likelihood of a person accidentally being declared dead is admittedly small. The SSA boasts a 99.7% accuracy rate, with erroneous reports and internal recording errors together accounting for just one-third of 1% of the 2.9 million death records the SSA processes each year.…