DOGE works to clean up Social Security database

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on Monday said that it has been working to clean up millions of records in the Social Security Administration’s databases by marking numberholders listed as over the age of 120 as being deceased.

“For the past two weeks, @SocialSecurity has begun a major cleanup of their records,” DOGE wrote Monday in a post on X. “Approximately 3.2 million numberholders, all listed age 120+, have now been marked as deceased. More work still to be done.”

DOGE’s post said that, as of March 8, the Social Security database listed a little more than 12.3 million numberholders as being age 120 or older. That figure includes more than 1.3 million in the range of 150 to 159 years old.

The group’s post didn’t specify whether any of those numberholders were actually receiving Social Security benefits, as DOGE leader Elon Musk previously claimed.

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Musk noted last month the presence of unbelievably old numberholders in the Social Security system and said “there are a whole bunch of Social Security payments where there’s no identifying information, like, why is there no identifying information?”

Acting Social Security Commissioner Lee Dudek responded by saying that, “The reported data are people in our records with a Social Security number who do not have a date of death associated with their record. These individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits.”

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The Social Security Administration (SSA) issued its own release on Monday explaining that while the agency receives millions of death reports each year “less than one-third of 1 percent are erroneously reported deaths that need to be corrected.”

“Instances when a person is erroneously reported as deceased to Social Security can be devastating to the individual, spouse, and dependent children,” SSA wrote. “Benefits are stopped in the short term which can cause financial hardship until fixed and benefits restored, and the process to prove an erroneous death will always seem too long and challenging.”

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The Seattle Times recently reported on a case involving 82-year-old Ned Johnson of Seattle, who was erroneously marked as deceased by the agency sometime in February. Johnson told the outlet the experience was “truly surreal” and the agency clawed back benefit payments from his account.

He then undertook a three-week process, attempting to rectify the situation over the phone unsuccessfully for the first two weeks, before having an appointment set up for late March. Johnson was frustrated by the delay and went to the Social Security office in downtown Seattle, where, after waiting several hours, employees were able to verify that he is still living and correct the agency’s records.

SSA’s press release from Monday outlines how numberholders who’ve been incorrectly labeled as deceased should address the situation, which requires a current, original form of identification.

“If a person suspects that they have been incorrectly listed as deceased on their Social Security record, they should contact their local Social Security office as soon as possible,” SSA wrote. “They should be prepared to bring at least one piece of current (not expired) original form of identification.” 

“Social Security takes immediate action to correct its records and the agency can provide a letter that the error has been corrected that can be shared with other organizations, agencies, and employers,” the agency added.