Trump
Proposes Social Security Change That Could End Disability Benefits for Hundreds
of Thousands
 |
| Trump has already established his disdain for the disabled. |
The
proposed rule change was first published in the Federal
Register last month but has received scarce attention in the national media.
Last week, the Social Security Administration extended the public comment period on
the proposal until January 31, 2020.
Alex
Lawson, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Social Security
Works, told Common Dreams that the rule change "is the
Trump administration's most brazen attack on Social Security yet."
"When Ronald Reagan implemented a similar benefit cut, it ripped away the earned benefits of 200,000 people," Lawson said.
"Ultimately,
Reagan was forced to reverse his attack on Social
Security after massive public outcry—but not before people suffered and
died."
Patient
advocate Peter Morley, who lobbies Congress on healthcare issues, called the
proposal "a national disgrace."
The
process for receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is already notoriously complicated, and the
Trump administration is attempting to add yet another layer of complexity that
critics say is aimed at slashing people's benefits.
As The
Philadelphia Inquirer reported last week, "those
already receiving disability benefits are subject to so-called continuing
disability reviews, which determine whether they are still deserving of
compensation for an injury, illness, or other incapacitating problem as their
lives progress."
Currently,
beneficiaries are placed in three separate categories based on the severity of
their disability: "Medical Improvement Not Expected," "Medical
Improvement Expected," and "Medical Improvement Possible."
People with more severe medical conditions face less frequent disability
reviews.
The
Trump administration's proposed rule would another category called
"Medical Improvement Likely," which would subject beneficiaries to
disability reviews every two years.
According
to the Inquirer, "an estimated 4.4 million beneficiaries would
be included in that designation, many of them children and so-called Step 5
recipients, an internal Social Security classification."
Step
5 recipients, the Inquirer noted, "are typically 50 to 65
years of age, in poor health, without much education or many job skills [and]
often suffer from maladies such as debilitating back pain, depression, a
herniated disc, or schizophrenia."
Jennifer
Burdick, supervising attorney with Community Legal Services in Philadelphia,
told the Inquirer that placing Step 5 recipients in the new
"Medical Improvement Likely" category and subjecting them to reviews
every two years would represent "a radical departure from past
practice."
Lawson
of Social Security Works said "Donald Trump and his advisers know that
this will kill people, and they do not care."
"Every
current and future Social Security beneficiary must band together to defeat
this horrific proposal," added Lawson, "or else all of our earned
benefits will be next."
In
addition to lack of coverage from the national media, most members of Congress
have also been relatively quiet about the Trump administration's proposal.
Two
Pennsylvania Democrats—Sen. Bob Casey and Rep. Brendan Boyle—condemned the
proposed rule change in statements to the Inquirer.
The
proposal, said Casey, "appears to be yet another attempt by the Trump
administration to make it more difficult for people with disabilities to
receive benefits."
Boyle
said the "changes seem arbitrary, concocted with no evidence or data to
justify such consequential modifications."
"This
seems like the next iteration of the Trump administration's continued efforts
to gut Social Security benefits," Boyle added.