Social Security Administration Corrects Missing Centenarian Death Dates

Trump "made the absurd claim [Tuesday night] that people up to 360 years old are on the Social Security rolls and many may be collecting benefits," Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said Wednesday. "Just because someone may be in SSA’s database, doesn’t mean that they are receiving benefits unless they are alive and eligible — something Elon Musk and his DOGE minions should have learned before propagating these claims."

The data reported in the media "represent people who do not have a date of death associated with their record," Dudek went on to state Wednesday. "While these people may not be receiving benefits, it is important for the agency to maintain accurate and complete records."

SSA, Dudek explained Wednesday, "follows long established program integrity initiatives that identify people who have a higher likelihood of being deceased due to their age or incomplete death reports."

For example, SSA receives data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of individuals who have not used Medicare Part A or Part B for three or more years.

"SSA uses the data as an indicator to select and prioritize cases of individuals age 90 or older, who are currently in pay status and living in the United States, to determine continued eligibility for Social Security benefits," Dudek continued. "The agency attempts to conduct an interview with these individuals to verify they are still alive. If the agency identifies someone is deceased, it immediately stops payment and reports any suspicions of fraud to SSA’s Office of the Inspector General."

Dudek's efforts — at the behest of Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency — "is an abuse of trust fund money," Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, told ThinkAdvisor Thursday in an email.

"It plays into the false claim that Social Security is paying benefits to people who are deceased, which is not happening," Altman said. "Social Security should not waste dedicated administrative funds to clean up the records of people who are not getting benefits and never will. If Congress wants this done it should appropriate money from the general fund. In no event should the Acting Commissioner be spending dedicated money on non-dedicated purposes, which is what this is."

"It is reckless and irresponsible for President Trump and his administration to continue to claim that people at the unlikely ages of 150 and up are receiving Social Security benefits, given that this lie has been thoroughly debunked," the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare said in another statement Thursday. "Nonetheless, acting commissioner Leland Dudek continues to hedge by saying individuals who have passed away 'may not' be receiving benefits. In fact, deceased individuals in SSA's main database are not receiving benefits. Improper payments amount to less than 1% of total benefits paid by the Social Security Administration. Just because a decedent's name is still in the agency's database doesn't signify that they are receiving benefits. That is a function of the agency's record-keeping, not fraud."

The group added that it's "noteworthy that Dudek says, 'The agency follows long-established initiatives that identify people who have a higher likelihood of being deceased due to age,' indicating that there were protocols in place to prevent improper payments to dead people long before Trump, Musk, and DOGE brought their wrecking-ball operation to SSA."