Is the Social Security Administration paying benefits to millions of deceased individuals over 100 years old, as President Donald Trump claimed in Tuesday’s State of the State address?
Apparently not. While the agency’s Office of Inspector General has faulted the SSA for failing to update its database and record the deaths of millions of people, fewer than 90,000 people age 99 or older — not millions — are issued benefits, according to SSA records.
During his speech, Trump alleged “shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud in the Social Security program.” Trump claimed SSA has on its rolls 4.7 million people 100 to 109 years old, 3.6 million from 110 to 119, 3.47 million from 120 to 129, 3.9 million from 130 to 139. 3.5 million people from ages 140 to 140. 1.3 million 150 to 159, over 130,000 over 160. “And money is being paid to many of them,” he claimed.
In a news release issued the day after Trump’s speech, the SSA said, “While these people may not be receiving benefits, it is important for the agency to maintain accurate and complete records.”
In fact, the SSA has reported that as of November 2024, only 89,106 individuals 99 or older were receiving Social Security benefits.
The Office of Inspector General of the Social Security Administration reportedly has for years been critical of the agency’s failure to record all recipient deaths in its database. In a July 2023 report, the office wrote that the SSA lacked controls to annotate death information on the records of people who exceeded reasonable life expectancies.
The office noted that although the Census Bureau estimated approximately 86,000 individuals in the U.S. were 100 or older, SSA’s records included approximately 18.9 million born in 1920 or earlier but had no death information on their record.
“Death information missing from the Numident and the DMF hampers both SSA and Government-wide efforts to prevent and detect fraud and misuse,” the office wrote.
However, the Social Security Administration in the past has reportedly responded that updating old records would be costly and is unnecessary.
“I thank President Trump for highlighting these inconsistencies during his speech last night to a joint session of Congress,” Lee Dudek, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, said in the release. “We are steadfast in our commitment to root out fraud, waste, and abuse in our programs, and actively correcting the inconsistencies with missing dates of death.”
The agency reported that it follows “long-established” program integrity initiatives that identify people who have a higher likelihood of being deceased due to their age or incomplete death reports.
As an example, the agency noted that it gets data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of individuals who stopped using Medicare Part A or Part B three or more years earlier.
The data serves as an indicator for selecting and prioritizing cases of people 90 or older who are living in the United States and in pay status. The agency seeks to determine whether these people are still alive by requesting an interview. If someone is determined to have died, SSA immediately stops payment and reports any possible fraud to its Office of the Inspector General.
