Social Security Commissioner Dismisses Fraud Accusations as "Laughable"
New York, NY – Former Social Security commissioner Martin O’Malley has vehemently rejected accusations of widespread fraud within the agency, calling them "laughable" during an interview on CNN News Central.
O’Malley, who served as the commissioner under President Biden from 2023 to 2024, addressed a recent report that the acting SSA head Michelle King had resigned due to clashes with Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) over access to data.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has alleged that the SSA is rife with fraud, claiming that benefits are being paid to dead people and that millions of dollars are being wasted.
O’Malley’s Disbelief
During the CNN interview, O’Malley burst into laughter at Musk’s accusations.
"There is not like a zombie apocalypse of people, you know, cadavers running around with Social Security checks coming out of their pockets," he said.
O’Malley admitted that, as a large agency with 72.5 million beneficiaries, there may be isolated instances of fraud. However, he emphasized that these occurrences are extremely rare.
Outliers and Irregularities
"It’s a big agency, so there are outliers," O’Malley acknowledged. "Sometimes really desperate people will try to hide the fact that grandma died, so they get a couple more checks."
He also explained that the SSA has implemented safeguards to prevent overpayments, such as interrupting payments for individuals over a certain age who stop receiving Medicare benefits.
"More often, because of the checks we have in place… we have to restore benefits when we erroneously cut them off, when somebody moves out of the country or something," O’Malley said.
Musk’s Lack of Evidence
O’Malley criticized Musk for making unfounded claims that he cannot substantiate.
"Ask Elon Musk, show me the 12 people that are 150 years old. He can’t," O’Malley challenged. "Show me the 200 million that are still receiving checks. He can’t."
Musk has alleged that over 20 million names in the Social Security database are over 100 years old, including over 1.3 million in the 150-159 age range. However, he has not provided any evidence to support these claims or to indicate that these individuals are still receiving benefits.
DOGE’s Misguided Inquiry
O’Malley also criticized the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for its handling of the data inquiry.
"These 19-year-old nitwits from DOGE that are violating the law and plucking people’s personal identifying information, they don’t know what they’re looking at," O’Malley said.
The legality of DOGE’s data request is currently being challenged in court.
Conclusion
Martin O’Malley’s emphatic denial of widespread fraud within the Social Security Administration aligns with the agency’s own rigorous oversight measures and low rates of improper payments. While isolated incidents may occur, the vast majority of benefits are distributed to deserving individuals.
