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The Trump administration is falsely claiming that tens of thousands and thousands of lifeless folks over 100 years outdated are receiving Social Safety funds.
Over the previous few days, President Donald Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk have mentioned on social media and in press briefings that people who find themselves 100, 200 and even 300 years outdated are improperly getting advantages — a “HUGE drawback,” Musk wrote, as his Division of Government Effectivity digs into federal businesses to root out waste, fraud and abuse.
It’s true that improper funds have been made, together with some to lifeless folks. However the numbers thrown out by Musk and the White House are overstated and misrepresent Social Safety knowledge.
Listed here are the details:
What has the Trump administration mentioned about funds to centenarians?
On Tuesday, Trump mentioned at a press briefing in Florida that “we’ve got thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of individuals over 100 years outdated” receiving Social Safety advantages. “They’re clearly fraudulent or incompetent,” Trump mentioned.
“In case you take all of these thousands and thousands of individuals off Social Safety, rapidly we’ve got a really highly effective Social Safety with folks which are 80 and 70 and 90, however not 200 years outdated,” he mentioned. He additionally mentioned that there’s one individual within the system listed as 360 years outdated.
Late Monday, Musk posted a slew of posts on his social media platform X, together with: “Possibly Twilight is actual and there are lots of vampires amassing Social Safety,” and “Having tens of thousands and thousands of individuals marked in Social Safety as “ALIVE” when they’re positively lifeless is a HUGE drawback. Clearly. A few of these folks would have been alive earlier than America existed as a rustic. Take into consideration that for a second …”
How massive of an issue is Social Safety fraud?
A July 2024 report from Social Safety’s inspector basic states that from fiscal years 2015 by way of 2022, the company paid out virtually $8.6 trillion in advantages, together with $71.8 billion — or lower than 1% — in improper funds. Many of the inaccurate funds had been overpayments to residing folks.
As well as, in early January, the U.S. Treasury clawed again greater than $31 million in a wide range of federal funds— not simply Social Safety funds— that improperly went to lifeless folks, a restoration that former Treasury official David Lebryk mentioned was “simply the tip of the iceberg.”
The cash was reclaimed as a part of a five-month pilot program after Congress gave the Division of Treasury non permanent entry to the Social Safety Administration’s “Full Loss of life Grasp File” for 3 years as a part of the omnibus appropriations invoice in 2021. The SSA maintains essentially the most full federal database of people who’ve died, and the file accommodates greater than 142 million data, which return to 1899, in accordance with the Treasury.
Treasury estimated in January that it might get well greater than $215 million throughout its three-year entry interval, which runs from December 2023 by way of 2026.
So are tens of thousands and thousands of individuals over 100 years outdated receiving advantages?
No.
A part of the confusion comes from Social Safety’s software program system known as COBOL, which has an absence of date kind in its programming. Which means that some entries with lacking or incomplete birthdates will default to a reference level of greater than 150 years in the past. The information group WIRED first reported on the usage of COBOL programming language on the Social Safety Administration.
Moreover, a sequence of stories from the Social Safety Administration’s inspector basic in March 2023 and July 2024 state that the company has not established a brand new system to correctly annotate dying data in its database, which included roughly 18.9 million Social Safety numbers of individuals born in 1920 or earlier however weren’t marked as deceased. This doesn’t imply, nonetheless, that these people had been receiving advantages.
The company determined to not replace the database due to the price to take action, which might run upward of $9 million.
A July 2023 Social Safety OIG report states that “virtually not one of the numberholders mentioned within the report at the moment obtain SSA funds.” And, as of September 2015, the company mechanically stops funds to people who find themselves older than 115 years outdated.
What are a few of the considerations about misinformation on Social Safety funds?
Chuck Blahous, a senior analysis strategist on the Mercatus Middle at George Mason College, mentioned, “Two cheers for Elon Musk if he can root out and put a cease to improper funds.”
However to choose the locations within the federal authorities the place error charges are excessive, “Social Safety can be close to the underside of the checklist, not close to the highest,” Blahous mentioned. “Medicaid improper fee charges are fairly substantial, and soared after the Medicaid growth of the ACA.”
“By all means — go after any improper funds which are discovered, however let’s not faux that’s the place the system’s largest monetary issues are,” he mentioned.
Sita Nataraj Slavov, a professor of public coverage on the Schar College of Coverage and Authorities at George Mason College, mentioned the claims by Musk and Trump will make folks assume the options to the federal government’s monetary issues are easier than they seem.
“The actual concern is that this declare might mislead folks into pondering there’s a simple repair to Social Safety’s monetary issues — that we will one way or the other restore solvency with out making sacrifices by way of larger taxes or decrease advantages,” Slavov mentioned. “That is merely not true.”
What does the White Home say concerning the criticism?
Karoline Leavitt, the White Home spokesperson, referred again to the Social Safety’s inspector basic report.
“A earlier investigation revealed the SSA paid at the very least $71.8 billion in improper funds,” she mentioned. “The Social Safety Administration is now working to seek out much more waste, fraud, and abuse within the Administration’s whole-of-government effort to guard American taxpayers.”
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