The Trump administration proposed changes to Social Security’s rules last month that would make it easier to cut off benefits to disabled Americans, but this was just the first move by an administration that seems focused on targeting the poorest and most vulnerable Americans.
If it wasn’t bad enough for the administration to propose new Social Security rules to medically review a percentage of disability recipients every two years, which could result in a loss of benefits, but another proposal offered by the administration would make it even more difficult to qualify for disability benefits in the first place.
Social Security, under direction from the Trump administration, is working on a proposal that would change disability criteria based on age, education and work experience, which would impact older Americans who typically would qualify for disability benefits. The new rules would make the qualifying process much more difficult, according to a recent story in The Wall Street Journal.
This misguided proposal would ignore the fact that age impacts a worker’s ability to obtain and maintain employment and would increase the age of workers from 50 to 55 in determining disability eligibility based on education and work history.
In an effort to bolster support for this new rule, Social Security wrote that “evidence shows that in the modern economy the vocational impacts of age, education and work experience are markedly different from what they were when we published the current vocational regulations [1978].” The “evidence” Social Security used to justify this proposal was not presented.
These recent proposals by the Trump administration clearly indicates an agenda of denying disability benefits to many Americans. Social Security cloaks its rationale on what may be intentionally inaccurate or false factual characterizations of vocational factors. Social Security already uses some of the most stringent medical requirements in existence compared to disability requirements in other countries.
The question is what are the Trump administration’s motives for making these changes? Social Security benefits prevent millions of Americans from falling below poverty guidelines, so proposing these changes, along with the administration’s endorsement of stricter rules for nutrition assistance and Medicaid, are an indication the administration has little compassion for the poor and less fortunate.
