Social Security Administration issues a statement countering Elon's claim of a 'huge problem' with dead beneficiaries, says it gets roughly 3M death notices a year. But how accurate are they?

“Of these millions of death reports received each year, less than one-third of 1 percent are erroneously reported deaths that need to be corrected,” the SSA states in its press release.

By being transparent, the SSA hopes to correct false narratives spreading on social media while reducing the “devastating” consequences of someone reported as deceased by mistake.

Dispelling misinformation

Confusion about the SSA’s death records erupted after billionaire Elon Musk — who is leading President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — posted on X in February.

“Having tens of millions of people marked in Social Security as 'ALIVE' when they are definitely dead is a HUGE problem,” read Musk's post.

In response, the SSA offered evidence that many of the errors the agency needs to correct are not for dead people marked alive, but living beneficiaries marked dead.

For instance, 82-year-old Ned Johnson lost access to his benefits and saw $5,201 removed from his bank account after he was incorrectly reported dead to the agency, according to The Seattle Times.

“Instances when a person is erroneously reported as deceased to Social Security can be devastating to the individual, spouse and dependent children,” says the SSA. “Benefits are stopped in the short term which can cause financial hardship until fixed and benefits restored, and the process to prove an erroneous death will always seem too long and challenging."