Social Security, the government program put on the books in 1935, is in focus at Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which over the weekend reportedly requested access to information about Social Security recipients. That request prompted the resignation of acting Commissioner Michelle King, who had worked for the agency for more than 30 years.
It also comes on the heels of billionaire Elon Musk’s claims that DOGE has uncovered “massive government fraud” at the agency, alleging 150 year olds were fraudulently receiving Social Security benefits. Musk and his team at DOGE have yet to provide evidence to back up those claims.
Those actions are prompting concerns among Americans, after all nearly 73 million older adults rely on their monthly Social Security checks, but experts say now isn’t the time to panic, although everyone should be concerned.
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“No one should be panicking, but it’s extremely serious,” says Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works, the non-profit focused on protecting and expanding Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. “They (DOGE) now have access to everything, which means if you applied for disability benefits they have thousands of pages of medical records. They have earnings statements all the way back when. They have access to when you got married and got divorced. The worst case is that they have taken a secure system and made it insecure.”
That access, says Altman, could open the Social Security system up to hackers who would have a treasure trove of information that could be used to defraud Americans, including older adults.
“Older people are disproportionately susceptible to scams,” says Altman. “The data at SSA leaking would make the numbers of scams skyrocket. And, if there is an intent to punish perceived enemies, someone could erase your earnings record, making it impossible to collect the Social Security and Medicare benefits you have earned.”
Are 150-year-olds really receiving benefits?
DOGE is tasked with ridding the government of fraud and waste. As Musk and his team of engineers pick apart the federal government, they have set their sights on the SSA, claiming benefits are going to thousands of people who are 150 or older.
On the face of it that screams fraud but experts point out it’s most likely a quirk of the SSA’s antiquated coding system rather than fraudulent checks going out to seemingly dead people.
The SSA’s benefits system was written in large part on COBOL, a programming language that is 60 years old and wouldn’t be familiar to DOGE’s team of young engineers, reported Wired.
COBOL does not have a data type, which means some of the implementations rely on a system where dates are coded to a reference point. If a date is missing the most commonly used data point is May 20, 1875 and therefore all of the entries for 2025 missing a date would display an age of 150.
Even if it wasn’t a coding error, Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College says that based on the numbers being flouted by DOGE, it would amount to 40% of all beneficiaries being in this age group, which she says makes no sense.
“Yes, Social Security has some over payments but it’s less than most insurance companies,” says Munnell, noting that overpayments are less than 1% of total benefits. “Nobody wants to damage that system. My hope is the mucking is done very carefully and I’m calm and optimistic in terms of no harm to Social Security.”
A SSA inspector general report from 2023 highlights that issue. It said that 98% of the people aged 100 or older in the Social Security database were not in receipt of benefits but that the database wouldn’t be updated because it was too costly to fix.
“There are mistakes, errors and inefficiencies in these systems that need to be cleaned up but there isn’t any evidence people born in 1920 are receiving benefits. It’s a question of clearing the data and most people are supportive of that,” says Mel Casey, a senior portfolio manager at FBB Capital Partners. “Everybody recognizes every part of government can use a little tidying up. The approach the administration is taking is very confrontational. It’s a big tech approach. Move fast and break things and that doesn’t sit well with government agencies that move at a slower pace.”
What this means to you
While it’s understandable for older adults to be concerned, Casey said he is telling clients that while changes to Social Security are undoubtedly coming over the long term given the funding issues with this government program, what DOGE is doing today shouldn’t have an impact on the benefits of older adults.
“The changes would affect future beneficiaries as opposed to current beneficiaries,” says Casey, who urges adults to stay the course when it comes to their Social Security claiming strategy. “Seniors vote more reliably than younger folk and it would be politically unpopular to try to take away something that is a core part of retirement. It would be politically self-defeating.”
