- Elon Musk’s authorities effectivity group, DOGE, is taking goal at Social Safety, claiming fraud whereas pushing controversial modifications that might make it more durable for seniors to entry advantages. Critics, together with Mark Cuban, say the modifications are a part of an effort to “backdoor” reduce funds and intestine the company.
Elon Musk’s Division for Authorities Effectivity has a brand new goal in its quest to eradicate authorities waste: Social Safety.
Musk and the DOGE group have accused the company of being engaged in widespread fraud, most notably claiming that tens of hundreds of thousands of useless individuals are erroneously receiving funds.
To curb a few of this claimed id fraud, the company is imposing stronger identity-proofing procedures: a proposal that might drive hundreds of thousands to file social safety claims in particular person.
The change has been criticized by some, together with billionaire Mark Cuban, who referred to as the transfer a “back door way to cut payments.”
Former SSA officers and specialists have echoed Cuban’s feedback and raised issues in regards to the influence DOGE’s initiatives might have on social safety funds.
Backdoor advantages reduce
Laura Haltzel, a former affiliate commissioner on the Social Safety Administration who resigned in late February, informed Fortune DOGE was utilizing the pretense of fraud throughout the company as a method to scale back the quantity of advantages being paid out.
The company introduced on Tuesday that people who’re unable to confirm their id by means of a web-based My Social Safety account might want to go to their native Social Safety workplace to take action in particular person. A leaked memo additionally hinted that Social Safety cellphone help might finish id verification, which might additionally improve in-person visits.
In response to the brand new id proofing measures, the Social Safety Administration additionally plans to expedite the processing of direct deposit change requests—each on-line and in-person—to only one enterprise day, a big discount from the earlier 30-day maintain.
A number of folks, together with Cuban, have raised issues about how this might have an effect on senior residents residing off social safety checks.
“How many seniors who live exclusively off of their SS checks can afford internet? How many seniors no longer have a SS office near them now that dozens have been closed? What are people without internet or the ability to travel , or don’t have an office near them supposed to do if they need to reconfirm their bank account,” the billionaire stated in a submit on X.
Haltzel stated that the modifications would make it harder for some Individuals to entry their advantages whereas doing little to focus on precise fraud. She stated the modifications amounted to “de facto” social safety reduce, Trump’s administration’s promise to not contact the favored profit.
“It’s creating an environment where the very beneficiaries we’re trying to serve are simply not going to be able to access the benefits they’ve paid for,” she stated.
“We have always tried to make it easier for claimants…more efficient for claimants. And the justification that’s being put forward for why they are pushing this is the idea that there’s a great deal of fraud taking place,” she stated. “Well, the math there just doesn’t add up.”
Based on the SSA’s inspector common, solely 0.3% of claims are attributable to fraud. Social Safety’s cost accuracy charge is over 99% and the company has a number of safeguards in place in opposition to improper funds, in keeping with the progressive think-tank Heart on Price range and Coverage Priorities.
Tiffany Flick, a former chief of employees on the U.S. Social Safety Administration, has additionally stated DOGE’s takeover of SSA seemed to be “primarily based on the final delusion of supposed widespread fraud.”
In a court docket submitting, Flick raised issues about DOGE staffers‘ skill to guard delicate taxpayer knowledge. She stated she was “not confident” that DOGE staff had “the requisite knowledge and training to prevent sensitive information from being inadvertently transferred to bad actors”, because the group had “by no means been vetted by SSA or skilled on SSA knowledge, techniques or packages.”
“In such a chaotic environment, the risk of data leaking into the wrong hands is significant,” she stated within the submitting.
On Thursday, a federal decide briefly blocked DOGE from accessing delicate knowledge on the Social Safety Administration, saying that they had little justification for his or her seek for fraud.
“The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion,” the decide wrote.
Musk’s ‘useless folks database’
One of many principal arguments Musk and DOGE have used for the necessity for reform is the declare that useless individuals are being paid social safety, one thing Musk has known as a “dead people database.”
“Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security,” Musk stated in a submit on X.
“Having tens of hundreds of thousands of individuals marked in Social Safety as ‘ALIVE’ when they’re undoubtedly useless is a HUGE downside. Clearly. A few of these folks would have been alive earlier than America existed as a rustic. Take into consideration that for a second,” he added in a separate submit.
Trump later echoed the claims in a press briefing, claiming “millions and millions of people over 100 years old” had been receiving social safety advantages: “They’re clearly fraudulent or incompetent.”
The claims have been debunked by specialists and information shops, however Musk has continued to push the declare.
“What people don’t understand is that you can have an active social security number for a very long time because Social Security pays a worker’s earning record and can pay widow’s benefits or children’s benefits — so there can be many different benefits,” Nancy Altman, president of Social Safety Works and chair of the Strengthen Social Safety coalition, informed Fortune.
Altman stated she was involved that DOGE was attempting to persuade folks that there was widespread fraud to undermine confidence in this system and the federal government, whereas utilizing it as an excuse to “hollow out” the company.
“It could end up completely non-functional, and create a lot of waste and abuse,” she stated.
The numbers thrown out by Musk and Trump seem to misrepresent Social Safety knowledge.
“They don’t understand the difference between an active claim and active benefits and historical claims and historical benefits,” Haltzel stated, declaring that folks should still be within the system however not really be receiving advantages. “It’s simply not worth the time and effort of our staff to go into the records to undo the previous history of somebody who has passed on they’re not receiving benefit payments today.”
Job cuts might put the already understaffed company beneath pressure
Officers have additionally raised issues in regards to the proposed employees cuts on the SSA.
Haltzel who took DOGE’s “fork in the road” provide, stated the group had “instilled in everybody at SSA a definite fear that if they didn’t leave, their job might be lost to them.”
She accused the cost-cutting group of deliberately making a tradition of worry and unpredictability and working with a transparent disdain for presidency staff.
DOGE has been clear about its plans to slash authorities headcount, however specialists say cuts might trigger the already understaffed SSA to crumble beneath the strain.
“You can reduce the direct costs by having fewer federal employees, and you can make it harder for people to claim benefits because the people who would have served them are gone,” Haltzel stated. “The fewer people, the longer it’s going to take.”
“They are absolutely creating administrative burdens where there need not be any, under the guise of saving, you know, waste, fraud, and abuse,” she added.
Altman warned the company’s workloads had elevated as staffing ranges decreased. The SSA hit a 25-year low in company staff within the 2024 fiscal yr.
“You’ve got increasing birth and decreasing staff,” she stated. “I’ve been working on this program for the last 50 years, and this is the most serious threat I’ve ever seen to it.”
Representatives for the SSA didn’t reply to Fortune’s request for remark.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
