Myth Number Six: Waste, fraud and abuse abound.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency launched a shake-up and lightning restructuring of the Social Security Administration this year that caused the departures of thousands of employees, thinning an already overstretched work force. Mr. Musk also claimed, falsely, that Social Security was a “Ponzi scheme.”
But less than 1 percent of the more than $1 trillion the agency pays in benefits each year are considered improper payments.
Since the layoffs, remaining workers have been reassigned to fill gaps in its customer service operation. But customer service continues to struggle, said Tracey Gronniger, a managing director at Justice in Aging, an advocacy group focused on senior poverty.
“The field office staff is so overwhelmed that they’re having trouble providing the services that people need,” Ms. Gronniger said.
The Social Security Administration has said that customer service is improving, but it has stopped publishing detailed metrics, such as benefit processing times and waiting time on the toll-free phone line. “It means that it’s that much harder to see what’s going on,” Ms. Gronniger said.
