4 Things To Watch for as Elon Musk Takes on Social Security
Written by
Vance Cariaga
Edited by
Zuri Anderson
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Elon Musk’s role as an unofficial federal government overseer under President Donald Trump has raised concerns about how that role might impact the Social Security Administration (SSA). Although Trump himself has promised (more than once) that Social Security “won’t be touched,” recent events paint a different picture.
On Feb. 28, the SSA announced plans to cut about 7,000 jobs as part of Trump’s executive order to slash the federal budget and workforce. That followed an earlier announcement that the SSA would eliminate 41 jobs and close at least 10 SSA offices, ProPublica reported.
It’s unclear how much influence Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had on the SSA cuts. But the Tesla CEO and world’s richest person undoubtedly has set off alarm bells as he takes aim at every corner of the U.S. government.
Social Security will “probably be the first beloved program by Americans that these DOGE boys break,” former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley told the Baltimore Sun. “And they’re on their way to doing it by driving people out of the agency.”
Here are four things to watch for as Musk and DOGE take on Social Security.
Compromised Data
One of the most worrying aspects of Musk’s dive into government programs and benefits is that he and his DOGE team have been granted access to tens of millions of Social Security records that include highly sensitive personal information. One fear is that the information will get into the wrong hands and lead to a surge in scams targeting Social Security recipients.
“SSA has data on everyone who has a Social Security number, which is virtually all Americans, everyone who has Medicare, and every low-income American who has applied for Social Security’s means-tested companion program, Supplemental Security Income,” Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, said in a recent statement.
“Older people are disproportionately susceptible to scams. The data at SSA leaking would make the numbers of scams skyrocket.”
Office Closures
Musk has put a high priority on closing down government offices and emptying out buildings, and that’s already happening at the SSA. In its Feb. 28 press release, the agency said its regional structure of 10 offices is “no longer sustainable” and that it aims to “reduce the regional structure in all agency components down to four regions.”
According to ProPublica, the SSA has more than 1,200 regional and field offices that serve 119,000 Social Security recipients every business day. Closing down offices will likely make it harder for many recipients to access services and have their questions answered.
Staff Layoffs
As with office closings, this is something that’s already happening at the SSA — and it couldn’t have come at a worse time, according to Rich Couture, a spokesman for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)’s SSA General Committee, a union that represents about representing roughly 42,000 Social Security workers.
“SSA is at its lowest staffing levels in 50 years while taking care of more Americans than ever,” Couture said in a statement shared with NPR. “We need to retain our frontline workers who directly serve the public as well as those workers who provide critical support for the frontlines. Any cuts will ultimately hurt the public and undermine delivery of Social Security benefits.”
Longer Waiting Times
Long wait times to access benefits and have questions answered is already a major problem at the SSA. It will likely worsen if the agency drastically reduces staff and field offices, experts said.
This is especially true of disability benefits, which are “cumbersome and difficult to navigate,” Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, told NPR. “About 10,000 claimants who appealed for their benefits die waiting for their claim to be resolved.”
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