Here’s the 1 crucial Social Security issue that Elon Musk’s DOGE task force could actually help solve — and it has nothing to do with 130-year-old Americans collecting checks

An important issue that needs to be addressed

The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses different databases and sources of information to determine who's eligible for benefits each year and what monthly benefit to send out. Unfortunately, though, the agency isn't immune to errors.

An August 2024 report by the SSA’s Office of the Inspector General found that between fiscal years 2015 through 2022, Social Security made almost $72 billion in improper payments, most of which were overpayments. And while this amounts to less than 1% of the total amount of benefits paid during that period, it's a substantial amount nonetheless.

Now Social Security can take steps to try to claw back overpaid benefits. But as of last summer, it had an uncollected overpayment balance of $23 billion.

But the problem with overpayments isn't just a loss for Social Security.

Overpayments can also hurt the people who receive them — namely, when they're forced to pay the money back but no longer have it.

It can take the SSA years to discover that overpayments are being made. By then, recipients could conceivably be up to their ears in extra money they never knew about.

It's estimated that more than 2 million Americans receive overpayments from Social Security each year. But issues can quickly arise when they don't have the funds to repay that money and don’t respond to demand for repayment.

Now it used to be the case that Social Security could withhold 100% of benefits to recoup an overpayment.

Among four policy changes made in March is a 10% cap on the monthly Social Security benefit that will be withheld by default if an overpaid beneficiary doesn't respond to the demand for repayment, the exception being overpayments that resulted from fraud. The duration of repayment plans was also increased from up to 36 months to up to 60 months.

But even this more reasonable approach to recouping overpayments may put some Americans in a very precarious financial situation.

A 2024 survey by the nonpartisan Senior Citizens League found that 27% of beneficiaries get all of their monthly income from Social Security. On top of that, 20% depend on the program for between 76% and 99% of their income. So for people in that boat, losing even 10% of their monthly benefits could make it extremely difficult to pay their basic expenses.

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Could DOGE help prevent Social Security overpayments?

There are flaws in the way Social Security calculates benefit payments that need to be addressed. It's also worth noting that the agency is sorely underfunded, and staffing is reportedly at a near 50-year low.

As Michelle L. Anderson, Assistant Inspector General for Audit and Acting Inspector General, said, "Without better access to data, increased automation, systems modernization, and policy or legislative changes, improper payments will continue to be a major challenge for SSA into the future."

It’s this very issue that Musk and his team may indeed have the power to address. And that wouldn’t necessarily constitute overstepping.

The whole purpose of DOGE is to reduce wasteful government spending, and Social Security overpayments very clearly fall into that category.

If Musk and his team are able to audit the program’s payment system and find ways to prevent excess funds from going out, it can only help Social Security at a time when benefit cuts are looming.

In fact, if there’s one area where Musk has previously excelled, it’s technology. Modernizing Social Security’s databases could help the agency calculate payments more accurately while making up for a lack of human manpower.

So it’ll be interesting to see if Musk is able to work his magic and set Social Security on a more efficient and less wasteful path.