Invalidated: Trump and Musk’s myth of social security for tens of millions of dead people

Washington (AP) – The Trump government falsely claims that tens of millions of dead people are older than 100 years old.

The last days, President Donald Trump And Billionaire advisor Elon Musk have said on social media and in press briefings that people with 100, 200 and even 300 years old get benefits – a ‘huge problem’, Musk wrote, like his Department of Efficiency of the Government digs in federal agencies to eradicate waste, fraud and abuse.

It is true that incorrect payments have been made, including some for dead people. But the figures that have been thrown away by Musk and the White House are exaggerated and generous data about social security.

What has the Trump administration said about payments to centenary?

On Tuesday, during a press conference in Florida, Trump said that “we have millions and millions of people older than 100 years old” who receive social security benefits.

“They are clearly fraudulent or incompetent,” said Trump.

“If you get all those millions of people from social security, we suddenly have a very powerful social security with people who are 80 and 70 and 90, but not 200 years old,” he said. He also said that one person in the system was mentioned as 360 years old.

At the end of Monday, Musk posted a whole series of messages on his social media platform X, including: “Maybe Twilight is real and there are many vampires who collect social security” and “dozens of millions of people in social security marked as” alive “if they are certainly dead is a huge problem.

How big is a problem with social security?

A July 2024 report From the Inspector General of Social Security states that the Bureau of Fiscal Years 2015 to 2022 has paid nearly $ 8.6 trillion shares, including $ 71.8 billion – or less than 1% – in incorrect payments.

Most incorrect payments were too multi -payments for living people.

Moreover, the American treasury clawed back More than $ 31 million In various federal payments – not only social security payments – that wrongly went to dead people, a recovery that the former official of Treasury David Lebryk said was “just the tip of the iceberg”.

The money was recovered as part of a five -month pilot program after the congress de Ministry of Schatkist temporary access to the Social Security Administrations “Full Death Master File File” for three years as part of the Omnibus Credit Act in 2021. The SSA maintains the most complete federal database of persons who have died, and the file contains more than 142 million records that go back to 1899, according to to The treasury.

Treasury estimated in January that it would reclaim more than $ 215 million during his three -year access period, which runs from December 2023 to 2026.

So do tens of millions of people older than 100 years receive benefits?

Part of the confusion comes from the social security software system based on the Cobol programming language, which has a lack of date type. This means that some entries with missing or incomplete birth dates are in default more than 150 years ago. The WIDS organization has reported for the first time on the use of Cobol programming language at the Social Security Administration.

Moreover, a series of report The inspector general of the Social Security Administration in March 2023 and July 2024 states that the agency has not set up a new system to correctly annotate death information in its database, including around 18.9 million sofi numbers of people born in 1920 or earlier But not marked as deceased. However, this does not mean that these people received benefits.

The agency decided not to update the database because of the costs of doing this, that would run from $ 9 million.

A July 2023 OIG report of social security states that “almost none of the number holders received SSA payments discussed in the report.” And from September 2015, the agency automatically stops payments to people who are older than 115 years old.

What are some worries about wrong information about social security payments?

Chuck Blahous, a senior research strategist at the Mercatus Center on George Mason University, said: “Two cheers for Elon Musk if he can root and put an end to incorrect payments.”

But to choose the places in the federal government where error rates are high: “Social security would be at the bottom of the list, not at the top of the top,” said Blahous. “Medicaid incorrect payment percentages are fairly substantial and rose after the ACA expansion.”

“In any case – go after incorrect payments that are found, but let’s not pretend to be where the biggest financial problems are of the system,” he said.

Sita Nataraj Slavov, a professor of public policy at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, said that the claims of Musk and Trump will make people think that the government’s financial problems are simpler than them corpses.

“The real concern is that this claim can mislead people by thinking that there is an easy solution to the financial problems of social security – that we can somehow repair solvency without sacrifices through higher taxes or lower benefits , “said Slavov. “This is just not true.”

What does the White House say about the criticism?

Karoline Leavitt, the spokesperson for the White House, referred back to the general report of the Social Security.

“An earlier investigation showed that the SSA paid at least $ 71.8 billion in incorrect payments,” she said. “The Social Security Administration is now busy finding even more waste, fraud and abuse throughout the entire government efforts of the administration to protect American taxpayers.”