Social Security's Death Master File has been prized by researchers studying everything from organ transplant survival rates to cancer prevalence. Now their access has been limited, and research held up. Why?
The Social Security Death Master File is at the center of a debate about the need to protect people from identity theft and the need to conduct socially beneficial research.
The Social Security Death Master File
This is not a fictional name. The Social Security Death Master File indexes 90 million deaths reported to the agency over 75 years, and it includes names, Social Security numbers and dates of death.
Though it’s not 100% accurate, it is updated weekly, making it the most current record of deaths across the country. Another reason it is prized by researchers is that it is much less expensive than a similar record kept by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is more complete but 14 to 18 months out of date.
For the last decade, the master file included state records. But last year, after reports that identity thieves were utilizing these records, the Social Security Administration decided to stop releasing state records in the file.
Read more here: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/roadblock-for-researchers-social-sec...
