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In article ,
says...

The government has never looked at net worth when they determine
"means", they only look at income.

Not the Feds, but Medicaid commonly looks at "resources" to qualify.
The Feds actually have a lot of non-income wealth info at hand.
They can easily pass that to the states.
A $million in IRA's not distributed is still reported to the IRS.
Income is the easiest way, but not the only way.
I've had to reveal bank account balances when my kids applied for
tuition aid, and they got my SS number too, so maybe they knew more.
None ever got aid.
But an income check would be the easiest for SS "means testing".
Still not a real "means test" when it's just an income tax at marginal
rate.
When they take 100% at some level of income we'll call it a means test.

BTW, nobody buys your claim "It was always said that SS would never be
taxed." I knew as a kid it could be taxed, and I also knew if you work
while collecting, your benefits could be drastically reduced while
working. Exactly the opposite of what you're saying.

You must be young.
It was always taken as fact that SS would never be taxed since you put
in "after tax" money. That was the excuse they gave us about why FICA
was not deductible.

Reagan was the one who screwed seniors on that one. (1983)

"Kid" is relative. 28 years ago I was a kid.