President Donald Trump criticized Social Security during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday, calling its age database “a scam” after pointing out the sheer number of people reportedly listed as over 100 years old.
Newsweek has reached out to the Social Security press office for comment via email on Sunday morning.
Why It Matters
Although Trump has pledged not to cut Social Security, some skeptics remain concerned he may reconsider, especially given the recent involvement of his close adviser, Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force digging into federal agencies to root out waste, fraud and abuse.
While cases of benefit fraud have occurred, fewer than 1 percent were reported in July 2024 by the Social Security Administration (SSA) inspector general, and the majority of payments were made to living people. The scale suggested by Musk and Trump appears overstated and could encourage substantial cuts to the program.
What To Know
In recent weeks, Trump and Musk have claimed millions of people who are over the age of 100 are receiving Social Security benefits, in what Musk called a “HUGE problem.”
During his CPAC address in Maryland on Saturday, Trump told the crowd “We’re finding out do they get paid? Is somebody taking all of this money?” He then went on to list age categories in 10-year increments, starting from 100, and cited millions of people reportedly in each group. He noted an exception of one person, who was reported as 360 years old.
The numbers Trump cited, in the tens of millions, are higher than the data on the SSA’s website and the screenshot of the age-range database Musk shared earlier this month.
Trump told the audience, “It’s all a scam, the whole thing is a scam,” referring to the benefits database for senior citizens and the disabled, later adding that “under our administration, there will be no tolerance for Social Security fraud. We will not allow anyone to cheat our seniors, and those who will do that will be prosecuted by [U.S. Attorney General] Pam Bondi and others.”
Data on the SSA’s website, last updated in December 2024, shows that 89,106 “retired worker beneficiaries” over the age of 99 are receiving benefits. The U.S. Census Bureau data finds that there are around 80,000 centenarians in the U.S.
A 2023 audit of Social Security revealed that 18.9 million people in the database were listed as 100 years or older. However, the vast majority of those listed were not still receiving monthly checks, with 18.4 million who had not earned benefits for 50 years and likely deemed dead. Only 44,000 were still earning checks, with just 13 of those listed as age 112 or older.
Earlier this week, Acting Commissioner of the SSA, Michelle King, stepped down over DOGE requests to access recipient information. King had worked at the agency for three decades.
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
What People Are Saying
Michael Ryan, a finance expert and the founder of MichaelRyanMoney.com, previously told Newsweek: “Only about 44,000 of these were actually linked to payments. We’re talking about database quirks here, not grand theft…This kind of fearmongering about fraud isn’t just wrong. It’s flat out dangerous. We’re talking about a program that 67 million Americans rely on for retirement, disability, or survivor benefits. Real people, real lives.”
Elon Musk wrote on February 16 in a social media post on his platform X, formerly Twitter, that shared the age rangers of the social security database: “Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security.”
In a separate X post, Musk wrote: “Having tens of millions of people marked in Social Security as ‘ALIVE’ when they are definitely dead is a HUGE problem. Obviously. Some of these people would have been alive before America existed as a country. Think about that for a second.”
Kevin Thompson, a finance expert and the founder and CEO 0f 9i Capital Group, previously told Newsweek: “Are there people collecting social security over 100 years of age, the answer is incontrovertibly yes. But not at all to the extent Musk implies. This is what happens when people wade into topics they don’t fully understand. He’s confusing the fact that thousands of Social Security numbers exist for people over 100 with them actually collecting benefits. Two very different things.”
What Happens Next?
The Social Security program’s trust fund reserves are expected to become insolvent in 2035, according to the agency’s annual trustees report published last year. Some experts have warned that Trump’s agenda might speed up the program’s insolvency.
The president, meanwhile, has already appointed a new acting director of the SSA, Leland Dudek, who will serve in the role until the Senate considers Trump’s nominee for the full-time position, Frank Bisignano, president and CEO of Fiserv.
