Elon Musk has officially stepped down from his role in the government. The magnate was in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and now he isn’t. He’s on his way out of Washington to keep stirring up controversy on the social network he owns, X.
Now that Musk is gone, many have started to question the work of the Social Security Administration (SSA), since Musk was part of Trump’s inner circle (even though they’re now close to falling out completely). As we were saying, many are wondering what’s going to happen now with DOGE and SSA, because during his “term”, Musk eliminated thousands of jobs (which he considered “unnecessary”) and proposed new tools to modernize the SSA.
What’s going to happen now that Musk has said goodbye? All plans will keep moving forward, according to Frank Bisignano, the current SSA commissioner. What does all this mean for citizens?
Musk’s changes
Musk came into government to “clean up” and get rid of anything he saw as irrelevant and to optimize social spending. The magnate, who was the key figure at DOGE, recently stepped away from his role in Washington after a split with the Trump administration, but this departure had already been planned long before the falling-out with the president.
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Bisignano is now in charge and calls himself a “DOGE person”, and he wants to bring in DOGE staff to help SSA update customer service and improve the use of artificial intelligence across the administration.
More tech, less staff
One of the most drastic changes already implemented was the reduction of 7,000 jobs within the SSA, as part of a strategy to “optimize resources” and move many traditional services into the digital space. Bisignano argues that the focus should no longer be on the number of employees but on providing “great service to the public”.
But of course, not everyone is happy with these changes…
What happened?
The relationship between DOGE and SSA workers has become especially tense over access to sensitive data. The Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in favour of DOGE, allowing access to non-anonymized Social Security records to improve government efficiency.
Of course, SSA workers opposed this because it meant sharing very sensitive information about millions of citizens and there were no legal guarantees to protect that data, but the court ended up siding with DOGE… So DOGE can now see your personal Social Security data.
Cuts to benefits? For now, no
As expected, one of the biggest concerns for beneficiaries is speculation. Both Trump and Bisignano have said there are no plans to cut Social Security benefits. But as you know, the problem is what it is, and the Social Security trust fund isn’t exactly full, and if no action is taken quickly, by 2035 we’ll see a drastic reduction in benefits…
On top of this, there are warnings of delays because SSA staff are focusing their efforts on resolving the 900,000 cases affected by the Social Security Fairness Act, which is slowing down other processes… But it’s for a good cause!
The future has arrived… but not for everyone
One of Bisignano’s goals is to reduce average phone wait times, which are currently at 19.2 minutes, to just 12 minutes by September 2026. He also wants to cut disability claim processing times from 231 to 190 days. Will he make it?
Of course: the criticism
According to Kevin Thompson, CEO of 9i Capital Group, these changes will take years, not months, as many people hope. And many are expecting immediate changes that haven’t shown up in the real world.
On the other hand, older adults are worried about losing in-person or phone support. Creating a generational barrier would clearly be a huge mistake, many of our seniors can’t navigate technology, and this isn’t a small issue, we’re talking about the money they need to survive after years of paying into the system.
Musk’s role and the vacant leadership
It’s clear we’re in a time of transition, between Musk and Bisignano, between the old and the new that SSA is promising. Now we’ll have to wait and see what changes Bisignano pushes through. For now, let’s just hope he avoids so much controversy!
