Gee, “Whata Surprise” . . . There isn’t any overwhelming Social Safety Scandal or Fraud.
A newly reported doc exhibits that “anti-fraud checks” applied on the Social Safety company discovered just about no improper profit claims. This discover, whereas slowing funds considerably.
‘A Huge Scandal’: Inner Doc Exposes Trump-Musk Hunt for Social Safety Fraud as a Sham, Jake Johnson @ Widespread Desires
An inside Trump administration doc reportedly exhibits that anti-fraud checks not too long ago put in on the Social Safety company have discovered simply two circumstances of doubtless improper profit claims out of greater than 110,000—a price of 0.0018%.
The paperwork, first reported Thursday by Nextgov/FCW, additional undercut President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s narrative that Social Safety is brimming with fraud. Musk falsely claimed in March that “40% of the calls into Social Security were fraudulent.”
The anti-fraud checks for Social Safety have been utilized solely to learn claims remodeled the cellphone. Based on the inner doc, “No significant fraud has been detected from the flagged cases.” Earlier this yr, amid widespread outrage, the Social Safety Administration (SSA) walked again a proposal to scrap lots of its phone-based profit declare companies.
Nextgov/FCW famous Thursday that the Trump administration’s deployment of the anti-fraud instruments starting final month “did cause delays, as SSA changed its phone procedures to add the checks on the backend.”
“The lags stem from the three-day hold placed on telephone claims in order to run the anti-fraud [checks], a move that ‘delays payments and benefits to customers, despite an extremely low risk of fraud,’” Nextgov/FCW reported, citing the inner doc.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) mentioned in a press release that “the Trump-Musk Social Security takeover has only meant more chaos and confusion for Americans.”
“Every one of DOGE’s so-called ‘mistakes’ is a backdoor cut to people’s benefits,” mentioned Warren. “There’s nothing efficient about making it harder for people to access the checks they’ve earned and are owed.”
On social media, Warren referred to as the revelations within the inside administration doc “a HUGE scandal.”
It’s lengthy been clear that Social Safety fraud is minuscule, with an inspector normal report revealed final yr estimating that simply 0.84% of Social Safety advantages paid out between 2015 and 2022 had been distributed improperly—and even these improper funds had been not essentially fraudulent.
The brand new reporting out Thursday bolstered warnings that the Trump administration’s hunt for fraud is a mere pretext for slashing Social Safety advantages and weakening this system.
“Turns out there ISN’T rampant Social Security fraud, but Elon’s witch hunt, driven by his insane conspiracy theories, IS keeping seniors from getting their benefits as quickly as they should be,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) wrote on social media.
“THIS is Republican governing: hunting for nonexistent fraud while breaking Social Security.”
Frank Bisignano, the newly confirmed SSA administrator, has shut ties to Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity and has defended the president’s false declare that tens of tens of millions of “dead” persons are receiving Social Safety advantages.
CNN reported earlier this week that as SSA combs “through its databases to check whether beneficiaries are alive or dead” at Trump and Musk’s behest, company staffers are “seeing more people coming in to be resurrected” after being falsely deemed deceased.
“I’ve been saying it all along,” former SSA chief Martin O’Malley wrote Thursday. “Elon Musk is the biggest fraud, not Social Security.”
