PACE, Fla. — A Pace woman was mistakenly declared dead by the federal government.
The family says the Social Security Administration is calling it a clerical error.
The family didn’t discover this until the woman was diagnosed with cancer and found her healthcare coverage was cut off.
WEAR News talked to Patsy Rosher on Friday inside her daughter Catina Lacsamana’s home.
Rosher did not want to go on camera, but said the Social Security Administration declared her dead in May.
“It all started in May when we lost my father and my mom moved in with me to take care of her,” Lacsamana said.
The family tried accessing Rosher’s survivor benefits after her husband’s passing.
“She would see it pending in her bank account, but before it would post, it would be sent back to the US government,” Lacsamana said. “Come to find out when my father was declared deceased, so was she. Therefore, she was not eligible to get any benefits.”
Lacsamana noticed an influx of medical bills addressed to her mother, but didn’t know why — until she went to see her mother’s doctor.
“We went to go to the doctors appointment and they told us she was no longer covered,” she said. “And come to find out her social security benefits have been terminated, as well as her Medicare and her supplemental insurance.”
Lacsamana says her mother was diagnosed with an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer in September and desperately needs to begin chemo …
