An 82-year-old man’s life was upended after the Elon Musk led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) declared him dead and canceled his Social Security.
Leonard “Ned” Johnson, told the Seattle Times that his wife, Pam received a letter from their bank in February saying that they were notified that her husband had passed and that the Social Security Administration (SSA) requested a return for benefits paid out after his supposed death.
What the couple thought was a scam turned out to be real as the bank deducted $5,201 from their account. Ned’s February Social Security check was also canceled, his Medicare insurance was cut off and his credit score was marked as ‘deceased, do not issue credit.’
For weeks, Ned and Pam tried to prove he is alive. They made multiple calls to the SSA during which they were put on hold and eventually disconnected. Johnson eventually decided to go to the office on the ninth floor of the Henry Jackson Federal Building where he waited for hours.
When he finally spoke with a representative, Johnson said he was able to prove he is alive using his passport. The staff promised to fix the mistake and by last Thursday his bank called to say they had returned the deducted funds. But, he still hasn’t received February or March’s payment.
“When I was in that line, I was thinking that if I was living solely off Social Security, I could be close to dumpster diving about now,” he told the Seattle Times.
Trump, Musk and their allies have falsely claimed that tens of millions of dead people over 100 years old are receiving Social Security payments. But according to experts these claims are wildly exaggerated.
For starters, only 67 million people receive Social Security benefits, and only 0.1% are over the age of 100.
“When they’re throwing around numbers like tens of millions of dead people are getting Social Security, well there’s only 67 million total. What are they talking about? Half the people are actually dead? The numbers are so ridiculous. It’s not true,” Kathleen Romig, the director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said.
Johnson isn’t the only senior who had to fight for his Social Security since Trump returned to office. James McCaffrey, a 66-year-old retiree in Oklahoma City, told NBC affiliate KFOR that he was notified that his benefits were suspended.
After multiple phone calls and hours on hold, he finally got through. Payments resumed but no explanation was given as to why they were halted in the first place.
However, McCaffrey believes his may be due to the fact that he was born on a U.S. military base in Germany—and Musk’s recent Fox Business appearance, during which he claimed that undocumented immigrants are receiving benefits, according to Common Dreams.
