OKLAHOMA CITY – A retiree claimed his Social Security benefits were abruptly suspended without notice.
When he reached out, no explanation was provided, and he was concerned that it could be related to his birthplace and ongoing DOGE cuts.
James McCaffrey, who was born to an active duty US soldier at an overseas US Army base, is concerned that his benefits will be reduced due to his foreign birthplace, citing recent comments from Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk.
Earlier this month, Musk, the billionaire CEO of DOGE, called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme,” claiming that the system is riddled with people receiving benefits fraudulently.
Musk, in particular, claimed during an interview with Fox Business that many illegal immigrants receive Social Security, despite the lack of evidence, and called for their removal from the rolls.
According to The Hill, economists believe the levels of fraud Musk has described “just do not exist.”
Earlier this month, NBC News reported that former Social Security Administrator Martin O’Malley warned that DOGE’s cuts to Social Security could disrupt benefits for millions of Americans for the first time since its inception.
McCaffrey, a retiree from Oklahoma City, is concerned that he may have been one of the first.
The 66-year-old said he was most looking forward to one aspect of retirement.
“More time with the grandkids,” McAffrey stated.
He claims to have saved enough retirement money to, quite frankly, spoil his three grandchildren.
“I went out and bought [my granddaughter] a new jacket,” McCaffrey explained. “She is thrilled. And her sister says, “Well, you know, she got a new jacket.” Where is mine? I replied, ‘I will get you one.'”
He was also looking forward to being able to travel more with his wife, who is approaching retirement age.
When he opened his mail on Tuesday, he realized that all of his dreams would have to come to an end.
“I would hate to have to turn around and say, ‘Well, I have to worry about my next check,'” he told me.
This is because he received an unexpected Medicare bill in the mail.
“It said that I needed to pay $740 before the 25th of this month or I was going to lose my Medicare,” McCaffrey told me.
That seemed odd because his Medicare payment is usually deducted from his Social Security check.
“So, I called Medicare,” he explained. “After a wait, they returned my call and informed me that they were unable to process it through my Social Security payment due to a problem. We talked a little bit. He mentioned that he believes my Social Security may have been suspended.”
And that did not make sense to McCaffrey.
“I thanked him for his time and called Social Security,” he told me.
After more than two and a half hours on hold with Social Security, he finally received a call back.
“They confirmed that my account was suspended,” McCaffrey explained.
He claims Social Security never notified him that this was happening, so he cannot pinpoint the exact date his benefits were canceled.
But he knows it had to be between the day he received his February Social Security check earlier in the month and February 27, the date on the Medicare bill he received.
He asked the Social Security agent if there was anything she could do about it.
“She said she was going to input some stuff and that she hoped that would take care of it,” he told me.
And by the next morning, the problem had been resolved.
“I just got a simple email on my phone,” McCaffrey said. “It said that my normal payment was going to resume in April.”
The email said nothing about the March payment he never received.
He checked his bank account and saw that his March check had been deposited.
“That is fine and dandy,” McAffrey replied. “I enjoyed that, but they gave me no explanation.”
To get an explanation, he had to act as his own detective.
He recalled an experience he had two years ago when he went to a Social Security office to apply for benefits.
“The first person I talked to at the Social Security Administration told me that I was not an American citizen,” she said.
McCaffrey was born on a US Army base in Germany, where his father was serving on active duty.
He has an American birth certificate that has been officially stamped and sealed by the federal government.
“I was on American soil,” he explained. “I am American. She told me I would have to hire a lawyer and obtain naturalization before I could apply for Social Security.”
When he returned the following day with his birth certificate and passport, a different employee informed him that there was no problem.
“I got a different person, presented my belongings to him, and he said, ‘I do not need these. You are fine. I do not know what. She is just misinformed. And I would never had a problem with anything until [Tuesday],” McCaffrey explained.
Then he remembered something he had just seen on television.
Elon Musk, the billionaire in charge of DOGE, discussed Social Security during an interview with Fox Business Network.
In the interview, Musk suggested, without providing evidence, that a large number of non-citizens are receiving Social Security benefits and called for them to be removed from the system.
“[Federal entitlements] is also a mechanism by which Democrats attract and retain illegal immigrants, by essentially paying them,” Musk stated in an interview with Fox Business on March 10. “If we turn off this gigantic money magnet for illegal immigrants, then they will leave.”
That made McAffrey think about his own situation.
“I think they went into Social Security and suspended all foreign addresses, whether you reside at home, born on them,” he told me.
News 4 contacted the Social Security Administration for an explanation, but officials declined to comment, citing confidentiality rules.
News 4 will put them in touch with McCaffrey.
He claims that a representative from the Social Security Administration called him on Wednesday but still did not explain why his benefits were terminated.
“It makes me wonder how many other people are going to get—or have gotten—that same Medicare letter,” according to McCaffrey.
He is concerned about people who may not have the time or resources that he did to investigate what happened and recover his benefits.
“I have been a diligent Boy Scout type, I prepared,” he informed us. “But, no, I should not have to.”
He is also concerned about others who may not have the same savings or financial cushion as he does. “And you interrupt that for seven days, two weeks or even longer, and they are in bad trouble,” he told me. “They could have left the house. They could be out of food. I do not know.”
