One hallmark of Elon Musk’s 12 weeks in authorities has been his give attention to Social Security.
He has sent one in every of his closest advisers to work on the Social Safety Administration. He has falsely insisted that this system is rife with fraud. And he has depicted the entitlement as a instrument — a “giant magnet,” to be particular — that he says entices unlawful immigrants to come back to the US.
That final half has turned Social Safety into a significant point of interest of Musk’s unfounded perception that Democrats have allowed immigrants into the US as a part of a scheme to tilt the citizens of their favor.
A workforce of my colleagues has reported that Musk is now driving big changes at the Social Security Administration which have braided features of his rhetoric concerning the company straight into coverage. The company is inserting sure immigrants — people who find themselves very a lot alive — on the company’s listing of lifeless folks, reducing them off from essential monetary providers in an effort to push them to go away the nation.
I referred to as my colleague Alexandra Berzon to speak about this reporting, and she or he defined that, in response to the White Home’s personal accounting, the focused migrants didn’t obtain a lot in the way in which of presidency advantages — and none of them acquired Social Safety.
The brand new effort, she defined, is much less about cost-cutting than it’s about getting the Social Safety Administration into the enterprise of immigration enforcement, a push that has deeply alarmed present and former workers of the company.
Clarify to me what you and our colleagues found when reporting this story. How is the Trump administration utilizing Social Safety as a instrument for immigration coverage?
Social Safety maintains one thing referred to as the “loss of life grasp file,” which helps to make sure that Social Safety numbers for the deceased aren’t used for identification fraud and that form of factor. Yearly, they add round three million folks to this listing, whose deaths they monitor with the assistance of state data, funeral houses and other people’s households. This listing can also be distributed by the Division of Commerce, and it finally ends up being utilized by monetary establishments, mortgage firms, insurance coverage firms, bank card firms, banks and others, who typically shut or droop the accounts of individuals believed to be lifeless. When folks mistakenly find yourself on this listing, it’s a nightmare.
Now, the Division of Homeland Safety is sending sure migrants’ names over to the Social Safety Administration to be added to the listing as in the event that they have been lifeless. They suppose it will make folks’s lives so tough that they’ll self-deport. They’re renaming the “loss of life grasp file” the “ineligible grasp file.”
Who, precisely, has been added to this listing?
The unique memos that set this up — from Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland safety, to Leland Dudek, the performing commissioner of the Social Safety Administration — described two classes of individuals: migrants who’re suspected terrorists and people who are convicted criminals. We discovered this week that 6,300 individuals who the federal government says fell below these classes have been added to this file. These have been folks allowed into the nation quickly and given Social Safety numbers, however who’ve now had their standing revoked. Officers stated the trouble might broaden to incorporate others within the nation with out authorization.
Musk has talked so much about the concept unlawful immigrants are drawn to this nation to get Social Safety advantages. Is there any proof that the migrants on this listing have been really drawing Social Safety advantages?
Immigrants pay into the Social Security system, and they typically don’t get benefits from it, in order that they’re really contributing to the system. It’s the other of what Musk has stated. There are some restricted advantages that sure immigrants — those that have been approved to work, and who’ve Social Safety numbers consequently — are eligible for after sure durations of time. However, so far as we all know, these will not be enormous numbers.
Late yesterday, a White Home official despatched us an inventory of the advantages these folks had acquired. They stated that round 1,000 folks out of this group of about 6,300 collected Medicaid, unemployment advantages or scholar loans. Once we added all of it up, these advantages averaged to about $600 per individual amongst those that had gotten the advantages — none of which have been Social Safety advantages.
So it’s true that among the folks positioned on the loss of life listing have been drawing federal advantages. However there is no such thing as a proof to counsel that these folks have been really drawing on the coffers of Social Safety.
Our dialog was edited for size and readability.
AGENCY REPORT
What would Trump do with an enormous cost-cutting alternative favored by Biden?
Over the past two years, well being executives have recognized what they see as a major goal for cost-cutting in Medicaid: a little-known medical product referred to as a pores and skin substitute. I requested Sarah Kliff, an investigative well being care reporter at The New York Instances, to clarify how the Trump administration is approaching a chance to cut back authorities spending on that product.
Pores and skin substitutes are small bandages typically made out of dehydrated placentas. There may be some proof that they can assist heal sure cussed sores, significantly people who folks with diabetes can get on the soles of their toes.
Medicare reimbursement for pores and skin substitutes has soared over the previous few years, from $1.6 billion in 2022 to $10 billion in 2024.
My colleague Katie Thomas and I reported this week on one driver of the spending progress: Medical doctors have robust monetary incentives to make use of pores and skin substitutes. Corporations promote these bandages to medical doctors at a reduction, however the medical doctors cost Medicare the complete sticker value and pocket the distinction. We had authorized specialists overview some contracts, they usually noticed language that would conceal kickbacks.
Katie and I wrote our story partially as a result of the Trump administration was going through a key deadline. Medicare needed to determine by April 13 whether or not to hold out a Biden-era plan to limit pores and skin substitute protection. The plan would restrict protection for merchandise that didn’t have good proof exhibiting they labored.
Once we wrote our story, we weren’t certain the place the administration would land. On the one hand, we knew that President Trump had criticized the Biden plan on social media, and that his marketing campaign had acquired a big donation from one of many greatest pores and skin substitute firms. On the opposite, we knew that he has made slashing authorities spending a marquee purpose of his second administration. Well being-cost specialists informed us that pores and skin substitutes might symbolize the most important instance of waste in Medicare’s historical past.
This morning, we got our answer: The Trump administration is not going to put the Biden rule into impact. As a substitute, they’ll delay it till 2026, leaving dozens of unproven merchandise available on the market and eligible for Medicare reimbursement.
— Sarah Kliff
MEANWHILE on X
Defending a Musk defender
Musk has been comparatively quiet on X as we speak, by his requirements. However my colleague Ryan Mac seen that he used his account to advertise a Trump ally who has stood up for him. Right here’s extra.
For weeks, Ed Martin, a far-right election denier whom Trump nominated to be the U.S. lawyer in Washington, D.C., has defended the actions of Musk and his Division of Authorities Effectivity.
Musk has reciprocated the favor.
On Friday, the billionaire used his X account to push the Senate to approve Martin’s nomination, replying to a different publish with, “Affirm Ed Martin!” It’s the second time in lower than a month that he’s voiced his assist for Martin, who has been an advocate for the Jan. 6 rioters and is in line to lead the office that prosecuted them.
Martin has portrayed himself as a prepared assault canine for Musk and DOGE. In February, he posted a letter to his X account addressed to Musk by which he threatened to “pursue any and all authorized motion in opposition to anybody” who impeded Musk’s work with DOGE. That was after information organizations started to reveal the identities of among the folks concerned with the cost-cutting job pressure.
4 days later, Martin posted a second observe saying that he would open an inquiry after receiving a referral from Musk “of people and networks who look like stealing authorities property and/or threatening authorities workers.”
As Martin awaits affirmation, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee who’re pushing to carry a listening to on his nomination have cited his letters to Musk as justification.
— Ryan Mac
BY THE NUMBERS
$150 billion
That’s the quantity of presidency spending that Musk, throughout a gathering of Trump’s cupboard yesterday, said DOGE was on tempo to chop from the federal price range in a single price range yr. His earlier said purpose was $1 trillion in cuts.
