If you’re on federal disability payments and on social media, be careful what you post. Uncle Sam wants to watch.
The Trump administration has been quietly working on a proposal to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to help identify people who claim Social Security disability benefits without actually being disabled. If, for example, a person claimed benefits because of a back injury but was shown playing golf in a photograph posted on Facebook, that could be used as evidence that the injury was not disabling.
via New York Times.
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President Roosevelt’s vision has most certainly endured. Today, Social Security provides some 61 million Americans and their families with basic financial security upon retirement or disability. For older Americans, Social Security can mean the difference between financial well-being and poverty. Two out of three seniors rely on Social Security for most of their income, and one-third of seniors depend on it for at least 90% of their income. Public polling consistently shows that Social Security enjoys overwhelming support from majorities of Americans across party lines.
Over the years, Social Security has been modified (with bipartisan support) to expand benefits and keep the system financially sound. This year, Social Security has come under new threat from budget hawks in the Trump administration and on Capitol Hill. But as generations of Roosevelts have
shown us, Social Security is worth fighting for. On this, Social Security’s 82nd anniversary, we at the National Committee recommit ourselves to preserving this landmark program for current and future generations of Americans.
Read more from our blog post here marking this anniversary by clicking here.
President Trump released an FY 2019 budget today proposing deep spending reductions for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and myriad other federal programs that help older Americans, the poor, and people with disabilities.
Here are some of the highlights (or lowlights) of the President’s proposed FY 2019 budget that impact society’s most vulnerable:
- Some $500 billion in Medicare spending reductions over ten years, most of which would affect providers and suppliers, but could potentially impact beneficiaries, too.
- $1.4 trillion in cuts to Medicaid (which covers long-term care for millions of seniors) through restructuring the program.
- Some $700 billion in spending reductions from “repealing and replacing Obamacare.”
- $64 million in cuts to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).
- Reduces the Social Security Administration’s request for administrative funding by $90 million from FY 2017 levels, which would further exacerbate SSA’s customer service issues.
- Defunds the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps low income seniors pay their heating bills.
Read more about President Trump’s
budget by clicking here.
As the baby boom generation ages into its peak years for retirement and disability, the demands on the Social Security Administration (SSA) are reaching all-time highs. Yet Congress has cut SSA’s core operating budget by 10 percent since 2010, after adjusting for inflation.
These cuts hurt SSA’s service to the public in every state. The agency has been forced to shutter field offices and shrink its staff, leading to longer waits for service and a record-high disability appeals backlog. While the overall effect is a decline in service nationwide, the effects of the cuts vary considerably by state.
via CBPP.
Related Reading:
The Trump administration has been attempting to spin its proposed $64 billion in cuts to Social Security Disability Insurance as somehow not cutting Social Security. Some in the media have parroted the White House line. “Trump’s Budget Slashes Spending, Leaves Social Security & Medicare Untouched,” declared a headline from Fox Business News. A CNN Money correspondent told Wolf Blitzer that Trump’s budget “doesn’t touch Social Security.”
News flash: Just because the Trump budget doesn’t cut retirement benefits doesn’t mean it leaves Social Security untouched. Social Security Disability Insurance is part of Social Security — period.
via The Hill.
More on this topic can be found here.
Millions of Americans who rely on Social Security can expect to receive their biggest payment increase in years this January, according to projections released Thursday by the trustees who oversee the program.
But older Americans shouldn’t get too excited…
…“Opponents of Social Security may once again try to use this report as an excuse to cut benefits, including raising the retirement age,” said Max Richtman, who heads the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. “We must, instead, look to modest and manageable solutions that will keep Social Security solvent well into the future without punishing seniors and disabled Americans.”
via Associated Press.
The 2017 OASDI Trustees Report confirms that the Social Security Trust fund is stable and healthy for now, but faces challenges in the future if corrective action is not taken.
via Trustees Say Social Security is Sound for Next Two Decades.
I read a recent article on Social Security Disability with great interest. My brother is among one of those dying while the Social Security Administration drags its feet, ignoring his desperate cry for help…
…It has been more than a year since he filed his Social Security claim and has to go through the process of appeal. He has had to get a lawyer. Because he was in the Navy, he has to use the Veteran’s Administration medical assistance, which is 35 miles from his home. He often does not have the gas money it takes to get there because he has been made so poor by all of this.
via Quad City Times.
Related Reading:
- Social Security’s 82nd anniversary — why doesn’t this agency still have an adequate budget?
- Today, Social Security provides basic financial security for some 61 million Americans. Two out of three seniors rely on Social Security for most of their income, and one-third of seniors depend on it for at least 90 percent of their income. It is one of the most efficient federal programs. Less than 1 percent of Social Security’s revenue goes to administrative costs — the rest, to beneficiaries.
- In fact, the SSA’s core operating budget has shrunk by 10 percent since 2010…
- These cuts resulted in an SSA hiring freeze, the closure of more than 60 field offices across the country, and lengthy delays in processing Disability Insurance (DI) applications appeals. (Some 1 million applicants are awaiting much-delayed hearings.)
The movement in Washington to gut our most crucial social insurance programs - not only Social Security and Medicare, but Medicaid, too - amounts to nothing less than a war on the working class: people at all levels of income and employment who are counting on retirement income and health security.
via Huffington Post.
The House Freedom Caucus is planning to draft a plan overhauling Social Security and Medicare within the first 30 days of returning to Washington next year, the group’s chairman said Thursday.
via Wall Street Journal.
Related Reading:
- In The Fight To Save Retirement Security For The Working Class.
- The movement in Washington to gut our most crucial social insurance
programs - not only Social Security and Medicare, but Medicaid, too -
amounts to nothing less than a war on the working class: people at all
levels of income and employment who are counting on retirement income
and health security.
The movement in Washington to gut our most crucial social insurance programs - not only Social Security and Medicare, but Medicaid, too - amounts to nothing less than a war on the working class: people at all levels of income and employment who are counting on retirement income and health security. We in the advocacy community, empowered by workers and beneficiaries across the country, are gearing up for battle.
via Entitled to Know.
via twitter.
The Trump administration has sent a grim message to America’s seniors.
President Trump’s 2020 budget proposal shortchanges seniors by:
- Slashing $845 billion from Medicare.
- Cutting $25 billion from Social Security Disability Insurance.
- Gutting Medicaid by 1.5 trillion.
- Cutting the Social Security Administration’s operating budget by 3.5%.