(CLO) Head of the US Department of Efficiency Elon Musk just accidentally discovered that more than 20 million people listed in the Social Security database are over 100 years old.
However, Musk's shocking case has long been known to the Social Security Administration (SSA) watchdog, which released an audit report in July 2023 showing that there were 18.9 million people listed as 100 or older — but not dead — in the database.
Meanwhile, according to the Census Bureau, only 86,000 people living in the United States at that time actually lived to be centenarians. About 44,000 actually received benefits, including 13 people over the age of 112.
Some 18.4 million people were found in the 2023 audit to have not received benefits or reported income for 50 years, meaning they are likely dead.
Screenshot of social media post X about the number of people receiving US Social Security benefits.
However, audits have revealed that there are around 531 million Social Security numbers in circulation in the US (a country of just over 341 million people) — and “thousands” of them may be being used to commit identity fraud.
A 2015 audit found that about $3.1 billion in income was reported by employers or self-employed individuals who did not have actual Social Security numbers.
Alex Nowrasteh, vice president of the Cato Institute for economic and social policy studies, responded to Musk's tweet by noting that many of the Social Security numbers of people over 100 are "illegal immigrants paying in, not fraudulent recipients withdrawing money."
“By all means, clean up SSA and mark those people as dead,” Nowrasteh said. “Maybe that’s okay, SS should be shut down anyway, but it’s a downside.”
Payments to deceased beneficiaries also occur at other federal agencies. Under former President Joe Biden, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a government agency, overpaid $127 million to the Teamsters pension fund for nearly 3,500 deceased members — before reaching a settlement with the Justice Department to return the money.
Hoang Huy (according to X, Fox News, NYP)
Source: https://www.congluan.vn/elon-musk-phat-hien-20-trieu-nguoi-tu-100-den-159-tuoi-duoc-huong-tro-cap-o-my-post334949.html
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