The idea that people who are collecting Social Security disability benefits are lazy and bilking the government out of money because they don’t want to get a job is not a new one, but President Donald Trump’s recent proposal to make it more difficult to stay on benefits is a sign that the idea will likely never go away.
The Trump administration has proposed a new rule to increase the medical reviews of disabled beneficiaries, which all experts agree, will lead to disabled workers being kicked off benefits. Trump does not get credit as the originator of this idea as President Ronald Reagan tried something similar in the 1980s, which did not work out well for Reagan. It is pretty obvious Trump has not learned from past mistakes, according to a recent story from the Huffington Post.
As the story points out, “the Ronald Reagan administration terminated the benefits for thousands of disabled people who were supposedly loafing on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) instead of getting a job. The cuts sparked a public outcry, state government protests, serious congressional pushback and court rulings restoring people’s benefits.”
The Trump administration’s plans to reduce the number of people on disability may not end with the latest proposal to increase medical reviews that would cut people off benefits. According to the story, Trump’s administration is also considering a separate rule that would tighten eligibility rules to get on disability benefits in the first place. Some people may think this is a good idea, but few people who have ever tried to apply for disability benefits would endorse the idea. Social Security disability is already extremely difficult to medically qualify for, instituting more stringent rules and regulations than the majority of other countries with similar types of disability programs. This is reported in the Huffington Post story.
More than 8 million Americans receive Social Security Disability Insurance, for which they must prove to the government that they suffer from a severe disability that won’t go away within a year. Even after they’ve been awarded benefits, from time to time most recipients have to prove that they’re still unable to work in order to continue receiving benefits. How often reviews happen depends on the severity of a person’s impairments.
The larger point with the Trump administration’s attempts to prevent disability benefits to American workers is that it appears Trump is targeting the poor and vulnerable. Disability benefits are modest and do not come close to making-up a worker’s salary when they were employed. Many people, even some who are entitled to disability benefits, live extremely modest lifestyles and some even fall below federal poverty guidelines.
There is no doubt that some Trump supporters would be negatively impacted by these proposals, but many of them remain unaware of them or deny the existence. Many times this is the case with legislation and government action, and people who are impacted the most don’t realize it until it is already too late.
