If you're out of work, disabled, poor, or have children with disabilities, this article from the Nashville Tennessean indicates that the Trump Administration's proposed cuts to Social Security disability benefits will likely affect you (to the point of taking the money away from you). This is what the Administration and the GOP run-Senate is eyeing this year.
Side note: I lived in Tennessee, and the Nashville newspaper is NOT a progressive paper (they always endorse Republicans), so you KNOW this isn't a biased report.
Here's what you're going to lose>>>>
Social security disability benefits: What Trump's proposed cuts could mean for recipients
Anita Wadhwani, Nashville Tennessean
Published 1:32 p.m. CT Dec. 27, 2019 | Updated 5:32 a.m. CT Dec. 28, 2019
The Trump Administration is proposing new rules for the nation's safety net program for people with disabilities that could end benefits for tens of thousands of people.
The proposed new rules have alarmed some advocates for people with disabilities, who call it a "backdoor way" to cut people from a program already under scrutiny for taking years to review disability claims and wrongly denying benefits.
Social Security Administration officials say the plan would "enhance program integrity and ensure that only those who continue to qualify for benefits will receive them."
Whose disability benefits would be impacted:
More than 16 million adults and children currently receive disability benefits, but the Social Security Administration isn't saying how many people the new rules would affect.
The agency has said it expects to conduct 4.4 million more continuing disability reviews over ten years if the rules take effect. The reviews would add $1.6 billion in administrative costs, but save $2.8 billion in benefits when people are cut from the program.
Using those figures, national advocates for people with disabilities estimate tens of thousands of people stand to lose disability benefits each year.
What is Social Security disability?
The Social Security Administration is best known for retirement benefits, but it also oversees two programs for people living with disabilities:
Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, is for low-income individuals without a work history. The maximum payment for an individual is $783 a month beginning in January.
Social Security Disability Insurance is for workers who become disabled. Payment amounts depend on past earning. In 2019, the average payment was $1,234 per month.
To qualify for either, individuals must show they have a long-term medical, psychological or intellectual impairment that prevent them for working.
Children who are blind or have severe functional limitations expected to last at least a year or result in death also qualify.
The fine print on disability reviews
Once on disability, adults and children are subject to "continuing disability reviews" by Social Security staff.
The reviews require recipients to submit medical, income and asset records as well as documentation of living arrangements. Social Security staff then decide whether someone still qualifies for benefits.
How frequently anyone is required to go through a review depends on which of three categories Social Security has placed them in. Individuals whose conditions are expected to improve — babies born prematurely, for example — are in a category called "medical improvement expected" and reviewed every six to 18 months.
MORE SOURCES FOR SAME STORY:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahkim/2019/12/17/trump-administrations-proposed-ssdi-policy-change/#510390124abe
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-administration-going-disability-benefits-221152928.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGT0C7RuOglFeqtAJ6bND0l8-wQHW9GVTuCMH76rICOtWUjCeznpNxYtMGTgFbrb1Nc0PrxYfDgO1o6MUyjt9dG6F32Rs0FLeN_vmJ8lD_YlJ269dIVfBeHaRta51Ytxyn-uFAlbeQub-9l5VdHnsOWObNmZyuLsJEb5PYQAvp3M
https://www.inquirer.com/news/social-security-ssi-ssdi-trump-administration-disability-20191212.html
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-disability-benefits_n_5e14b935c5b6c7b859d17b97?ncid=newsltushpmgnews
