The Trump administration has proposed huge cuts to the Social Security Disability payments. Known as SSDI, these payments go to persons who can no longer work. The Trump administration has proposed cuts of $72 billion over ten years. They have also proposed reducing the back pay period from 12 months to six to save more money. As one woman exclaimed, these benefits apply to persons with stage 4 cancer. Heck, I had a client once with a brain tumor. It was not operable. Yet, even he was initially denied benefits and had to appeal.

The White House Budget Director, Mick Mulvaney, claims the administration wants to “test” new approaches to labor force participation. But, he did not explain how the administration would screen out persons allegedly receiving benefits who do not deserve the benefits or how it would transition disabled persons to jobs. And, the Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a request for more information regarding how the adimistration plans to achieve these aims. During his briefing on the budget, Mr. Mulvaney claimed that SSDI applies to partial or short-term disability. It does not. On the contrary, it applies only to permanent disability that keeps a person from working abroad range of jobs.

I have worked on a few SSDI appeals. I can attest that SSDI is exceedingly difficult to obtain. Many persons apply for benefits who are severely incapacitated and yet, they are denied benefits. Unfortunately, the “Plan B” for most applicants is to apply again. Since, their impairment worsens, and the documentation of the condition usually improves. By the second or third attempt, if the person is still alive, they are generally more successful. But, during that lag time between the first application and the second, they are without health care. Persons already on the edge of survival have no medical care.

According to one agency, the U.S. process to achieve disabled status ranks highest among advanced countries, second only to South Korea. The Arc, a nonprofit that advocates for persons with disabilities, estimates some 946,000 persons currently receiving benefits would lose their benefits under this plan. See CBS News report.

It is one thing to lose benefits because the country claims to lacks resources. But, to lose benefits because an administration is confused about those benefits indicates a lack of competence. No one is getting rich off these benefits. The top benefit amount is about $14,000 per year. But, SSDI includes access to medicaid. So, recipients do receive medical care. For persons with the most serious health conditions, that is all about survival. There is something just not cool about taking benefits away from someone in Stage 4 cancer, so we can buy more tanks. I love tanks. But, that is just not the way to go.