Social Security Death Index question?

I was told many years ago that someone at an LDS center told them that to be on the social security death index, a person had to be drawing social security at the time of death and on their own social security number. For instance, my mother isn't on it because she was drawing off of my father's.


However, now Ancestry.Com has some people on their SSDI that had not been on their previously.


I am wondering if people who go into a nursing home that never had social security, which is true of a lot of person's in the past, if they had to get a social security number to get Medicaid to pay the nursing home and that some how this information has been released to Ancestry.Com. On the two that I saw the dates of death were not correct at all.


This could be because the nursing home furnished the information and really did not bother to be accurate. Does anyone know?

Social Security Death Index question?
The methods of indexing have changed since 1992. Previously, only those who drew benefits were included. But they revisited the issue and reconstructed the index to reflect all SSNs retired because of a recipient's death.





What's supposed to happen is that at the time of death, when all of the documents are being completed, it's usually the job of the funeral director to process a form to notify the SSA of the death of the person. Sometimes that doesn't happen. My own mother isn't in there for just that reason. It doesn't mean anyone will be able to go back and collect those benefits, but it does mean that the SSA hasn't been notified of their death yet.





As for the date discrepancies, there are two ways of notifying the SSA. One is just fill out the form and not provide proof of death. The other is to provide a certified death certificate and the information will be recorded as "verified". Nursing homes don't usually provide the information. It's usually in the hands of the funeral home or the executor of the estate, public guardian or crematorium.
Reply:If applied for, Social Security pays a $255.00 death benefit for anyone who died. The deceased didn't have to be on Soc. Sec. I believe some entries on the index are taken from these records.