Musk/DOGE are on a crusade to remove millions of supposedly dead people from the Social Security rolls. In this cause they have lied in suggesting the system is making social security payments to people impossibly (like 150 years) old. But the Quixotic crusade continues, and has now tilted at a proverbial windmill.
That windmill's name is Ned Johnson. In mid-February Social Security notified Mr. Johnson's bank that he had died in November. Social Security took from Mr. Johnson's bank account $5,201 that SS claimed were improperly paid benefits. The bank also terminated Ned's payments for February and March (which he still has not received).
The only problem is that Ned Johnson is, inconveniently, still alive. At a not so impossible 82 years he is even in good health. The money was taken from his bank account, and his benefits cut off, all without notice. The first hint he received was a letter to his wife, from the bank, expressing condolences at his passing.
Even though the Johnsons thought the letter was a scam they fortunately contacted the bank and only then did Ned discover that his government had taken him before his time and confiscated his money.
While rumors of his demise were obviously premature, they were now difficult to unwind government policy. It took Ned Johnson nearly three weeks to convince the Trump Administration that he is not dead. The effort finally succeeded when Ned personally presented himself to his local Social Security Administration Office along with ID.
Notably, that fix will soon be impossible. It is one of the offices Musk/DOGE has ordered closed. Ned waited four hours in line, before jumping the line, to convince an overworked (and likely to be soon unemployed) Social Security Administration staffer that he is alive.
“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,” said Johnson. Mr. Johnson has been given no explanation for this mistake.
These are the "efficiencies" Trump/Musk/DOGE are bringing to the federal government. As you read this remember that you could be the next Ned Johnson.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/heres-a-dead-person-on-social-security-in-seattle-with-plenty-to-say/
