The detection of disability certificates associated with deceased people simultaneously exposes a long-standing structural flaw in the state's control mechanisms, which allowed for years the continuity of benefits and benefits without basic verification of survival. According to official sources, the irregularity has already been communicated to the relevant areas, and the administrative cancellation of those certificates will proceed. In the Casa Rosada (the President's office), the scheme is classified as a 'scam against the state' and they maintain that the economic and symbolic damage justifies a judicial response. The Unique Disability Certificate is a public and free document that enables access to health benefits, transportation, family allowances, and other benefits nationwide. The Government rules out any direct implication from the Casa Rosada and maintains that, if irregularities are proven, Spagnuolo would have acted individually. The restructuring of ANDIS also includes a comprehensive audit with the participation of the General Audit Office of the Nation (SIGEN), focused especially on the administration of Non-Contributory Pensions and medication purchases. While the ruling party highlights the discovery of irregular certificates and the need to strengthen filters and controls, organizations in the sector and opposition sectors warn about the risk of moving towards indiscriminate cuts. The Government detected 178,000 disability certificates for deceased people, exposing structural flaws in the system's controls. In this scenario, the government's challenge is to clearly separate the purge of fraud from the preservation of rights, avoiding that the correction of irregularities ends up having a widespread impact on a historically vulnerable group. In parallel, the Government is analyzing legal actions against both those who continued to receive benefits after the death of the holders and against providers who would have billed for non-existent services. This should be the path to end abuses in the disability system, as it would clean the registry, allowing those who actually suffer from a disability to continue with their benefits. Buenos Aires, December 20, 2025 - Total News Agency - TNA - The national Government assured that it has identified a major irregularity in the disability system: some 178,000 Unique Disability Certificates (CUD) were active in the names of deceased people, according to a recent cross-check between the databases of the National Agency for Disability (ANDIS) and the National Registry of Persons (RENAPER). The finding was made within the framework of the internal reorganization process of ANDIS, initiated after the scandal that led to the departure of its former head, Diego Spagnuolo, and is presented by the Executive as one of the first concrete signs of administrative purification. The Government admits that it is essential to extend controls to potential beneficiaries who do not prove a real disability, but insists that this process must be done with technical and medical criteria, without defunding the system by law or affecting those who legitimately depend on these benefits. The discussion takes place in a sensitive context: the disability emergency remains in force, whose repeal the Executive failed to achieve during the 2026 Budget debate, and criticisms over cuts and payment delays persist. This audit, initiated in September, could extend until the first quarter of 2026, according to the legal deadlines set. The case has revived the political debate around disability policy. The former official was displaced after the leak of audios that implicated him in alleged corruption maneuvers linked to the management of the body, facts that motivated a judicial case still in process. The absence of an automatic and systematic cross-check with RENAPER allowed certificates of deceased people to remain active without alerts for long periods. The internal investigation was ordered by the current interim head of ANDIS, Alejandro Vilches, a public health doctor appointed in September by the Minister of Health, Mario Lugones, after Spagnuolo's departure. Its granting depends on an interdisciplinary board and does not have a fixed expiration date, although it requires periodic updates that are currently extended.
