The Dead Pool�

Recently, my friend Bob (be sure to check out his blog, Health Insurance 411) sent me an article about a new product: The Social Security Death Index Database. Briefly, the company makes available �a database of all reported deaths of reported Social Security number holders.� That is, if you�re in the Social Security system (and who isn�t?), and you die, you �make the list.�

So Bob and I had a brief email conversation about WHY someone (or some company) might need this information, and under what circumstances that need would be so great as to justify paying over $600 a year for this information.

We speculated that perhaps funeral directors would find it helpful, or even insurance agents (�Pardon me, Mrs Thompson, but I see that your husband has passed away. Did he have enough life insurance? Do you?�). But neither of us could figure out exactly who would pay for this kind of information, or to what purpose(s) it would/could be put.

So I moseyed on over to the site (which is easily navigable, and informative as well). I was surprised at the number of applications for such information:

- Bill collectors (kinda adds new meaning to �deadbeat�)
- Anyone who must be HIPAA compliant (medical providers, insurers)
- Mass marketers (who would presumably prefer that their lists remain current)

I�m still not sure how I feel about this. I guess it�s (technically) public knowledge, and I suppose that it could be a useful tool in certain businesses. But I�m also a little �creeped out� at the thought that news of my demise would be disseminated in that fashion.

Maybe I�m overreacting [ed: nooo!], but I just find this to be an unsettling development.

This is definitely a post for which I�d welcome feedback.