SANTA MONICA, Calif. (KTLA) — One family is grappling with the “death” of their 86-year-old mother … who is in fact still alive, despite what the Social Security Administration (SSA) says.
Sarah Van Leuven, a Santa Monica resident, retired as a special education teacher with the Los Angeles Unified School District on April 1, 2016, the same date that SSA lists her as deceased.
It is unclear exactly how she was declared dead — computer glitch? human error? — but the mix up has been near-catastrophic for the stroke survivor, who has been purged from Medicare and health insurance systems. She also had her bank and credit cards canceled, and years’ worth of her pension payments were pulled away overnight.
Her family believes the April 1, 2016, retirement milestone might be at the center of the confusion.
The family was first notified of the issue in 2023 and thought the problem had been resolved until this year when they received another cryptic letter in August from the Social Security Administration that did not mention Van Leuven’s possible elimination from services like Medicare and health insurance systems.
Van Leuven said her son Jon Van Leuven, who is also her primary caretaker, is left dealing with the stress of untangling the federal government’s massive error .
“It’s been quite an ordeal,” she told Nexstar’s KTLA. “Not so much for me but for my children and my son.”
To make matters worse, family members said they have been dealing with some government employees who do not appear to consider the critical situation urgent.
“We make a call to Social Security and someone at Social Security says, ‘Well, we see that she’s alive in the main record but there’s this auxiliary record that still shows her as dead,’” Jon Van Leuven explained. “She is currently completely eliminated from the Medicare system, and she has no health insurance. That is life-threatening for her. We’re going to deal with all the other stuff when this is dealt with.”
As for Van Leuven, she said she doesn’t believe the government has been working expeditiously on the problem, but says she’s grateful to have her children taking care of her.
“I’m really fortunate to have children,” she told Nexstar’s KTLA. “Some people in my condition might not have children to help take care of us.”
The Van Leuvens have reached out to California’s U.S. Senator Alex Padilla and Congressman Ted Lieu, both of whom have responded to help them get through the morass.
Still, the family does not know when the issue will be resolved. Van Leuven’s daughter Katie Hood, too, ventured to guess that they are likely not the only family in the country going through such an ordeal.
