Didn’t Donald Trump say he ‘wouldn’t touch‘ Social Security benefits?
He Lied…..
AGAIN?
Older Americans who PAID into the system getting their bemnefits cut is NOT gonna earn Republicans votes…
But then Donald Trump ain’t running again?….
Cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits does NOT poll well.…
Whis IS why Trump pledged NOT to touch them, eh?
The Social Security Administration evaluates disability claims by considering age, work experience and education to determine if a person can adjust to other types of work. Older applicants, typically over 50, have a better chance of qualifying because age is treated as a limitation in adapting to many jobs.
But now officials are considering eliminating age as a factor entirely or raising the threshold to age 60, according to three people familiar with the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private discussions. They also plan to modernize labor market data used to judge whether claimants can work, replacing an outdated jobs database that includes obsolete occupations such as nut sorters and telephone quotation clerks, following a Washington Post investigation in 2022.
It is unclear exactly how many Americans could lose access to disability benefits under the proposed rule changes.
Jack Smalligan, a senior policy fellow at the Urban Institute and a former Office of Management and Budget official through five administrations, wrote in a recent paper that if the proposed rule reduced eligibility for the disability program by 10 percent, 750,000 fewer people would receive benefits for all or part of the next decade. In addition, 80,000 fewer widows and children would receive benefits because of the loss in eligibility of a spouse or parent. That would lead to $82 billion less paid out in benefits over 10 years, Smalligan estimated….
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“This is Phase One of the Republican campaign to force Americans to work into old age to access their earned Social Security benefits, and represents the largest cut to disability insurance in American history,” Wyden said in a statement to The Post. “Americans with disabilities have worked and paid into Social Security just like everybody else, and they do not deserve the indignity of more bureaucratic water torture to get what they paid for.”
The $11 billion monthly disability program is separate from Social Security’s retirement system. It is also far more difficult to qualify for benefits under the program than the disability system for veterans.
The administration faces a challenge finding ways to keep the retirement fund going as it approaches insolvency. Commissioner Frank Bisignano said the agency is not considering raising the age that retirees qualify for benefits, walking back an earlier comment that the administration had not ruled it out….
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The changes come as new disability claims have declined. State-level data shows that disability applications are down 7 percent this fiscal year compared with the previous year, according to an Urban Institute analysis. Meanwhile, initial denials of disability claims are up, according to the same analysis, which found the SSA has approved nearly 3 percent fewer claims last fiscal year compared with this one….
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At the same time, Social Security is working on plans to rescind a Biden-era rule that expanded SSI eligibility for recipients who live with relatives or roommates receiving help from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or other public assistance. Restoring stricter standards could roll back payments for about 400,000 Americans, according to an August report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities….
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