The Federal OASDI Program
Overview of Social Security Survivors Insurance
The Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program, better known as Social Security, is administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). The Survivors Insurance component of OASDI is similar to life insurance. When a person insured by Social Security dies, his or her family may qualify for survivors benefits. At the end of 2007, there were 6.5 million survivor beneficiaries, representing about one in seven OASDI beneficiaries. Each month in 2007, about $6 billion was paid in survivors benefits. Survivor beneficiaries are almost all either women or children: 29 percent of survivor beneficiaries receive child benefits, and 99 percent of…
