Trump Says Social Security, Medicaid ‘Won’t Be Touched’

Elon Musk (L) speaks as President Donald Trump looks on in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 11, 2025. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump said in a new interview that he will not touch Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid amid his administration’s efforts to downsize federal spending.

“Look, Social Security won’t be touched, other than if there’s fraud or something. It’s going to be strengthened. But it won’t be touched,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview released Wednesday evening.

The president also vowed not to cut Medicare or Medicaid, two federal health insurance programs for elderly people and low-income people, respectively.

“Medicare, Medicaid, none of that stuff is going to be touched,” he said.

“Now, if there are illegal migrants in the system, we’re going to get them out.”

During his campaign, Trump said that he would not touch Medicare or Social Security, and at one point, proposed ending income taxes on Social Security checks. A projection from the Congressional Budget Office has shown the Social Security program will become insolvent by the 2030s.

Last week, the Trump administration announced it would shrink the Affordable Care Act’s navigator program annual budget by 90 percent to $10 million. Navigators are stationed throughout the country to help people enroll in Obamacare and Medicaid coverage and are credited with boosting the programs’ enrollment in recent years.

This week, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said it found that millions of dead people were listed in the Social Security Administration (SSA) database as eligible for benefits, with more than 12 million people over the age of 120.

The new acting head of Social Security said on Wednesday that “these individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits” and expressed confidence in DOGE audits.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement this week that referred to a Social Security inspector general report.

“A previous investigation revealed the SSA paid at least $71.8 billion in improper payments,” she said. “The Social Security Administration is now working to find even more waste, fraud, and abuse in the Administration’s whole-of-government effort to protect American taxpayers.”

Late last month, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressing concern that DOGE and Elon Musk gained access to a payment system that “disperses trillions of dollars each year, such as Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax credits for individuals and businesses, grants and payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk-owned companies.”

“To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy,” Wyden said.

Musk said in the interview with Hannity that DOGE needs to act to cut federal spending because of the ballooning national debt. Otherwise, Medicare and Social Security will be impacted.

“How do we assure people that we’re going to do the right thing ... that their Social Security benefits will be there” or “ensure that there’s better medical care in the future? How do we improve their benefits? How do we make sure that their Social Security check goes further than it did in the past and  ... it doesn’t get weakened by inflation?” he asked.

“We either solve the deficit, or all we'll be doing is paying debt,” he continued. “It’s got to be solved, or there’s no medical care, there’s no Social Security, there’s no nothing. It’s got to be solved.

“It’s not optional. America will go bankrupt if this is not done.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.