In the bustling Oval Office on February 11, 2025, Elon Musk engaged in conversation with President Donald Trump, while one of his young sons sat nearby. Captured by Kevin Lamarque of Reuters, this meeting centered around Musk’s ongoing quest to trim federal expenses through the Department of Government Efficiency. One contentious area is Social Security, where Musk has posed provocative questions, notably inquiring how some beneficiaries appear to be astonishingly old.
During a CNN interview on the same day, Musk mentioned that a “cursory examination” of Social Security data revealed individuals purportedly aged 150 receiving benefits. These remarks were echoed later on the social media platform X, where Musk quipped about the presence of “vampires” on Social Security.
However, Alex Nowrasteh, vice president for economic and social policy studies at the Cato Institute, points out that having millions of senior citizens not officially marked as deceased doesn’t automatically imply fraudulent claims. According to Nowrasteh, “The amount of fraud is likely minuscule.”
In response to these discussions, the White House shared a statement from Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. The statement referenced a 2024 investigation by the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General, which highlighted approximately $71.8 billion in improper payments from fiscal years 2015 to 2022, out of an $8.6 trillion total in benefits. Some of these discrepancies involved payments to deceased individuals, among other issues.
Leavitt emphasized the ongoing efforts to tackle waste, fraud, and abuse, stressing the government’s dedication to safeguarding taxpayer dollars.
This week, another development shook the agency as acting Social Security commissioner Michelle King resigned over concerns regarding DOGE’s access to sensitive information. Lee Dudek, now acting commissioner, assured the public that the agency would concentrate on transparency and securing sensitive data. Dudek clarified that many individuals listed with Social Security numbers simply lack a recorded date of death and are not necessarily claiming benefits.
Recent data shared by Musk about beneficiary ages might originate from the Social Security Administration’s Numident file, which holds personal data on everyone with a Social Security number. However, experts like Nowrasteh caution that outdated records in Numident don’t directly drive benefit payments. The payments operated on a separate system, independent of Numident, a distinction stressed by a former Social Security Administration employee.
For years, the agency has contacted centenarians who haven’t utilized Medicare recently to confirm their identities. Dubious claims of beneficiaries aged 150 have largely been dismissed as “silly,” with limited cases of fraud being uncovered through these checks.
Nowrasteh also touched on another aspect of the issue, where Social Security numbers belonging to those over 100 are often used by undocumented immigrants for employment purposes rather than benefit claims. This usage brings more money into the Social Security system through payroll taxes without corresponding benefits being paid out.
Indeed, from 2016 to 2020, individuals aged 100 and over were linked to $8.5 billion in reported income. However, the reality is that undocumented workers likely earned these wages but won’t access the benefits.
Nowrasteh’s research reveals that immigrants tend to consume less welfare per capita than native-born Americans, suggesting that targeting payroll tax compliance aggressively could inadvertently hasten the insolvency of the Social Security program. The program depends heavily on ongoing payroll taxes and trust fund reserves, with warnings from trustees that only 83% of benefits might be payable starting in 2035 if no legislative changes occur.
In the coming years, it remains to be seen whether Congress will take action to address these looming challenges.
