The White House has denied there will be any changes to disability determinations processes for certain Social Security welfare benefits.
Why It Matters
According to a new report by The Washington Post, the Trump administration is reportedly weighing up a proposal to remove age as a factor in determining a person’s ability to work, which would make it harder for older Americans to qualify for Social Security disability payments. The alleged proposal would be part of a broader effort to reshape federal assistance programs that serve low-income, elderly and disabled individuals.
What To Know
The White House has denied there will be any changes to disability determination processes for certain Social Security welfare benefits. Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai told Newsweek that “President Trump will always protect and defend Social Security for American citizens.
"The only policy change to Social Security is President Trump’s working families tax cut legislation that eliminated taxation of Social Security for almost all beneficiaries—which every single Democrat voted against,” Desai said.
Newsweek has contacted the Social Security Administration for comment via email.
Social Security Disability Payments
Social Security offers two main types of disability benefits: SSDI and SSI. Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) provides payments to people who have worked and paid Social Security taxes long enough to earn work credits. It functions like insurance, offering income based on a person’s previous earnings if they become unable to work because of a disability. After two years of receiving SSDI, beneficiaries also qualify for Medicare.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI), on the other hand, is a needs-based program for people who are disabled, blind, or over 65 with limited income or assets. Funded by general tax revenues, SSI provides a basic monthly payment to cover living costs, and recipients typically qualify for Medicaid.
It is unclear whether any SSA rule change would apply to both or one of the welfare payment types. The Urban Institute, a non-partisan think tank, has said that it could impact both.
Currently, the SSA uses a five-step “sequential evaluation process” to determine disability. This process examines a person’s current work activity, the severity of their impairment, whether it meets a listed condition, their ability to perform past work, and their capacity to do other work based on age, education, and experience.
Older applicants have a better chance of qualifying because age is treated as a limitation in adapting to many jobs but according to the Washington Post report officials are considering removing age as a factor altogether or only applying it to individuals aged 60 and older. They also plan to update the labor market data used to decide whether claimants can work, replacing an outdated database that still lists obsolete jobs such as “nut sorter” and “telephone quotation clerk.”
An SSA spokesperson told The Washington Post the agency is working on plans to “propose improvements to the disability adjudication process to ensure our disability program remains current and can be more efficiently administered.”
“This includes proposing policy updates to occupational data sources and optimizing their use to serve our customers and preserve the trust funds,” they said. “Once the proposal is fully developed, we will share it publicly and request public comment through the standard rulemaking process…As with any rulemaking, we will consider and analyze public comments before deciding whether to finalize the rule.”
