Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk raised eyebrows earlier this week when he made remarks about entitlements like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

However, the Trump administration was quick to clarify that it has no intention of cutting those programs. 

Musk says that $500 billion could be saved annually from entitlement programs

According to The Hill, Musk's comments came when he sat down for an interview on Monday with Fox Business host and former Trump administration adviser Larry Kudlow.

Elon Musk believes DOGE will reach goal of $1 trillion in savings https://t.co/SOmnJ016D4

— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) March 12, 2025

When asked about efforts to reduce government expenditures, Musk pointed to entitlements, suggesting that they could yield more than $500 billion worth of annual savings.

"So, the waste and fraud in entitlement spending, which is all of the — which is most of the federal spending is entitlements. So, that’s, like, the big one to eliminate," Musk stated.

White House statement: "The press is lying again"

The Hill noted that the White House put out a press release rebutting media allegations that Musk wants to eliminate Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.

"The Trump Administration will not cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits. President Trump himself has said it (over and over and over again). Elon Musk didn’t say that, either. The press is lying again," it read.

"The U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates taxpayers lose as much as $521 billion annually to fraud — and most of that is within entitlement programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid," the press release stressed.

"The Social Security Administration made an estimated $72 billion in improper payments between 2015 and 2022," it asserted.

"The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimated it made $140+ billion in improper payments in 2024 alone," the press release went on to add.

Musk believes he is "making good progress" at doing away with "waste and fraud"

For his part, Musk made similar points in his interview with Kudlow, stating, "There have been many good audits done by inspector generals [sic] and by the Government Accountability Office, they just haven't been implemented. Nothing's been done."

"I think the GAO identified that there was 17 million dead people in the Social Security database several years ago. It's now 20 million, but we didn't do anything about it," he lamented.

"I'm just here trying to make government more efficient, eliminate waste and fraud, and so far we're making good progress, actually," the DOGE head declared.