Stimulus Payments to Deceased Individuals During COVID-19 Pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, stimulus checks were mistakenly sent to deceased individuals, with the majority of these payments occurring during the Trump administration. A recent social media post falsely claimed that these payments happened under the Biden administration, resurrecting an old issue. The post by OpenTheBooks.com inaccurately stated that Biden paid 2.2 million dead people $3.6 billion, when in reality, the payments occurred before Biden took office. The government reports and media coverage at the time shed light on this issue. The payments to deceased individuals were a result of operational policies and procedures that did not include using death records as a filter to prevent payments to decedents.