How Social Security is changing
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What changes are happening with Social Security overpayments?
It's rare, but sometimes Social Security overpays someone. It can happen if there's been a miscalculation or if that person didn't update their income. In the past, the agency would withhold 10% of that person's future benefits until they paid back the overpayment. But starting today, the agency will take 100% of future benefits until the overpayment has been corrected. A 2024 internal audit found overpayments accounted for less than 1% of all benefits paid between the 2015 and 2022 fiscal years, about $72 billion. Two-thirds of that money was eventually recovered. For context, Social Security distributes close to $1.6 trillion in benefits every year. It's also important to note Social Security is paid for by Americans through a dedicated payroll tax.
How significant is Social Security waste and fraud?
This is just one of many changes President Trump and Elon Musk have made to Social Security in the past few weeks. And in spite of what internal audits like the one I just mentioned have shown, Trump and Musk claim the benefits system, which serves over 70 million retired people, is plagued by waste and fraud. The administration has announced plans to eliminate thousands of jobs at the agency, close offices, and eliminate the ability for people to file claims by phone. They initially planned to require all claims be filed either in person or online, but they partially walked back that plan after media organizations started reporting on it.
What are the consequences of staffing cuts at the Social Security Administration?
Still, The Washington Post reports that the Social Security website has been so overloaded that it crashed at least four times this month. And staffing at the agency has already gotten so low, some offices are struggling to handle the influx of calls. Some callers report being on hold for four or five hours. One reason why Musk is so focused on cuts at Social Security is because the agency accounts for about 20 percent of all federal spending. But Washington Post reporter Todd Frankel told us some of the moves the Doge team has made will actually make it more difficult to root out potential fraud.
At Social Security Administration and pretty much every other federal agency, they have their own inspector generals who are these teams who are supposed to hunt down the exact same thing, waste, fraud, and abuse. And when Trump came into office, there were 17 different inspector generals across the federal government. He fired them all.
Frankel says Social Security is one of the most scrutinized and audited agencies in government.
The federal government actually has a fairly robust system of checks and balances to keep an eye on where that money is flowing.
Social Security is also subject to frequent probes by its Office of Inspector General, which has 500 people on staff. It pays outside auditors to examine its books. Congress regularly questions agency officials. And government watchdogs have not found fraud anywhere close to the level Musk has claimed exists. Frankel reports that the changes to Social Security, both ones that have been considered and those that have been enacted, threaten to disrupt the agency's ability to serve the public. And Social Security is popular among Americans. In fact, an AP-NORC poll earlier this year said two-thirds of Americans think the government is spending too little on Social Security.
It's known as the third rail in politics because the third rail is electrified in some ways, and politicians are fearful to touch it, to mess with it. And President Trump has said that he's not going to cut Medicare or Social Security. It's an incredibly popular benefit. It was established to sort of curb this epidemic of poverty among senior citizens in the U.S. And so I think what's really caught folks off ideas and their minds. Today, as Doge says, they're going after waste, fraud and abuse. But if there isn't too much waste, fraud and abuse within Social Security, well, where are you going to get those savings from? So folks are worried that they're going to go after the actual benefits themselves.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What changes are happening with Social Security overpayments?
0:38–1:29
2
How significant is Social Security waste and fraud?
1:29–2:08
3
What are the consequences of staffing cuts at the Social Security Administration?
2:08–4:59
4
Why is Trump targeting law firms with executive orders?
4:59–5:48
5
What impact are Trump's actions having on the legal industry?
5:48–14:15
Speakers
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