Table 3.

Identification of deaths through survival-based versus SSA’s current methods among applicants for SSA disability benefits (1997-2006)

	Age at Application (n=2,408,462) a
	<18			18-64			65+
Identification Method	n	Deaths	%	n	Deaths	%	n	Deaths	%
Survival-based method	176	56	31.8	86,984	75,720	87.1	243	165	67.9
SSA’s current method	12,243	1,631	13.3	446,547	321,021	71.9	1,238	765	61.8
Both methods	12,366	1,666	13.5	521,847	388,419	74.4	1,433	930	63.0
Deaths not identified  through either method	257,089	14,380	5.6	1,604,484	285,933	17.8	9,558	1,536	16.1

Source: NIH tabulation, SSA Administrative Data

^a: Missing age information (n=1,685)