DOGE Is Pressuring Social Security To Cut Its Phone Claim Service—And Everyone's Making The Same Point

Criticism rained down on billionaire Elon Musk after news broke that his advisory Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) wants the Social Security Administration (SSA) to cut their phone service, instead forcing elderly and disabled people to file claims online or in person.

SSA announced on Wednesday that it will stop processing changes to direct-deposit routing numbers over the phone, though its other telephone services will remain unchanged.

This decision followed a Washington Post report that the SSA had considered ending telephone service for claims processing and direct-deposit transactions, potentially pushing retirees and disabled people toward online services and in-person field offices instead.

The move could have threatened public access to benefits for millions of Americans who depend on SSA’s phone service to submit claims and manage transactions. Current and former officials stressed that the agency’s toll-free number is a vital resource for older beneficiaries, many of whom lack reliable internet access or face challenges using online systems.

The Post reported that 73 million retired and disabled Americans rely on SSA’s telephone support to access their benefits.

This consideration reportedly came amid pressure from DOGE, which is pushing the SSA to reduce its staff by 12 percent. Critics warn that such cuts could further disrupt the agency’s already strained operations.

The report also surfaced as congressional Republicans proposed steep spending cuts to offset $4.5 trillion in tax breaks. President Donald Trump has backed the House GOP’s proposal while simultaneously pledging not to cut Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security.

However, the Congressional Budget Office recently stated that Republicans would likely be unable to meet their budget targets without also reducing Medicaid and Medicare benefits that millions of Americans depend on.

And as many noted, DOGE's moves toward the SSA show that ultimately, it's all about cutting seniors' ability to receive benefits, considering many are not mobile and have little experience dealing with modern technology.

Initially, DOGE staffers focused on concerns that deceased individuals were still receiving fraudulent Social Security benefits, according to two sources and records obtained by the Post. However, they reportedly abandoned that issue after career SSA staffers explained that the agency’s outdated technology system sometimes made it appear as though impossibly old people were still listed on the rolls.

After DOGE shifted its attention to alleged phone-based fraud, a person briefed on the team’s activities said DOGE staffers are worried about scammers impersonating older Americans to steal their benefits and about fraud in the Social Security disability program.

But SSA career employees told the Post that online and phone-based identity fraud represents only a tiny fraction of the program’s total cost—and they questioned how the agency would continue serving the public if phone services were eliminated.

Trump himself recently stated that government databases list millions of beneficiaries at improbable ages, including individuals over 160 years old—and even claimed the rolls include one person aged 360, suggesting they would have been alive not long after the Mayflower arrived.

There is no evidence to support claims of hundreds of thousands of people over 100 collecting benefits illegally, and no one living in the U.S. is older than 116. In a February 19 statement, Lee Dudek, the acting SSA commissioner, clarified that people listed as over 100 in the system are "not necessarily receiving benefits" but are often individuals without a recorded date of death.