Impeached President Donald Trump swore in a recent tweet that "We will not be touching your Social Security or Medicare in Fiscal 2021 Budget." He reiterated
Monday in a meeting with Republican governors: "We’re not touching
Medicare.
[…] We're not touching Social Security." Which is, of course, a lie.
A disproportionate number of those Republican governors represent the people that will be disproportionately hit by Trump's proposed cuts to the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program. That's rural people predominantly living in red states who would be subjected to onerous, often insurmountable barriers to maintaining the modest SSDI payments they get every month.
The average payment is about $1,200 for people who are not yet of retirement age but can no longer work because of a mental or physical impairment. The Social Security Administration conducts reviews of all beneficiaries on the basis of three categories: the people who are only temporarily disabled, people who might improve, and people who are not expected to improve. The reviews ensure that people are still qualified to receive help and require doctors visits, documentation, and no small amount of hassle. Some reviews are as frequent as twice a year, and some are once every seven years.
The administration is proposing to add a new classification of "Medical Improvement Likely," and is aiming it at older workers who are not longer able to work in their fields, or about 1 million people. Many of them can work part-time or in odd jobs. Most, however continue to live below the poverty line, even with SSDI help.
As with the Medicaid and food stamp work requirements, the Trump administration wants to create more hoops for these people to jump through. But for rural people the process is even harder because they have to work with a Social Security office both in the review process and in the event that they're denied ongoing payments.
More than 2 million people with SSDI live in counties that don't have Social Security offices, and more than 1 million of them are in rural counties where getting transportation to go to the closest SSA office is difficult. This problem is compounded by how hard disabled people in rural communities have had it since the Great Recession. Fewer disabled people in rural areas are employed now than were in 2008, even though the unemployment rate is low nationwide.
It's a population that's hit disproportionately hard by disabilities—rural dwellers are 5 percentage points likelier to become disabled during their working lives and are more likely to become disabled at a younger age than people in urban areas.
So once again, the Trump administration is taking action that will disproportionately hurt his base, or the "forgotten men and women" he supposedly championed in his run for office. They haven't been forgotten by Trump—not at all. They're among his favorite targets.
[…] We're not touching Social Security." Which is, of course, a lie.
A disproportionate number of those Republican governors represent the people that will be disproportionately hit by Trump's proposed cuts to the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program. That's rural people predominantly living in red states who would be subjected to onerous, often insurmountable barriers to maintaining the modest SSDI payments they get every month.
The average payment is about $1,200 for people who are not yet of retirement age but can no longer work because of a mental or physical impairment. The Social Security Administration conducts reviews of all beneficiaries on the basis of three categories: the people who are only temporarily disabled, people who might improve, and people who are not expected to improve. The reviews ensure that people are still qualified to receive help and require doctors visits, documentation, and no small amount of hassle. Some reviews are as frequent as twice a year, and some are once every seven years.
The administration is proposing to add a new classification of "Medical Improvement Likely," and is aiming it at older workers who are not longer able to work in their fields, or about 1 million people. Many of them can work part-time or in odd jobs. Most, however continue to live below the poverty line, even with SSDI help.
As with the Medicaid and food stamp work requirements, the Trump administration wants to create more hoops for these people to jump through. But for rural people the process is even harder because they have to work with a Social Security office both in the review process and in the event that they're denied ongoing payments.
More than 2 million people with SSDI live in counties that don't have Social Security offices, and more than 1 million of them are in rural counties where getting transportation to go to the closest SSA office is difficult. This problem is compounded by how hard disabled people in rural communities have had it since the Great Recession. Fewer disabled people in rural areas are employed now than were in 2008, even though the unemployment rate is low nationwide.
It's a population that's hit disproportionately hard by disabilities—rural dwellers are 5 percentage points likelier to become disabled during their working lives and are more likely to become disabled at a younger age than people in urban areas.
So once again, the Trump administration is taking action that will disproportionately hurt his base, or the "forgotten men and women" he supposedly championed in his run for office. They haven't been forgotten by Trump—not at all. They're among his favorite targets.
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