Trump is preparing social security reform: hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose disability benefits.

The Trump administration is preparing a plan that would restrict older Americans' access to Social Security disability benefits. This could result in hundreds of thousands of people losing their benefits, according to The Washington Post.

Currently, the Social Security Administration (SSA) evaluates benefit applications based on age, work experience, and education to determine whether an individual is adaptable to another job. Generally, applicants over 50 have an easier time receiving benefits, as age is considered a factor that makes career changes more difficult.

Now, authorities are discussing the possibility of eliminating age as a criterion entirely or raising the threshold to 60, according to three sources familiar with the discussions. Furthermore, they plan to update the labor market database used to assess applicants' employability. They plan to replace the outdated database, which includes professions such as nut sorter and telephone information operator, with more current data.

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It's unclear exactly how many Americans could lose access to disability benefits after the new rules are put into effect.

Jack Smalligan, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and a former Office of Management and Budget official, calculated that if the new rules reduce the number of benefit recipients by 10%, approximately 750,000 fewer people would be eligible for benefits over the next decade. Another 80,000 widows and children would lose eligibility because their spouses or parents would no longer be eligible. This would result in savings of approximately $82 billion over ten years.

Research shows that the majority of older Americans who apply for disability benefits do not find new jobs. If age were no longer a factor, more disabled seniors would likely be forced into early retirement, reducing their monthly benefits by approximately 30%.

"The criteria are already quite strict, and we're essentially turning away people who should be helped," Smalligan said.

SSA spokesman Barton Mackie said the agency is working to "improve the application review process to ensure the disability program remains relevant and effective." He added that once finalized, the draft will be released for public comment.

According to sources, the project is being overseen by Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, who attempted to reform the disability benefits system through executive action during Trump's first term. At the beginning of his second term, the White House tasked Acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek with changing the rules.

Conservatives have long argued that as Americans live longer and physical labor becomes less necessary, many people with disabilities could work in office jobs. This, they argue, would expand employment opportunities and reduce the number of benefit recipients. The SSA planned to implement similar changes at the end of Trump's first term, but it was delayed.

"We thought there were a lot more jobs available to people with disabilities now," said Mark Varshavsky, former SSA deputy commissioner for pensions and disability. "The nature of work has changed."

Varshavsky, now a senior fellow at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, believes the new rules will allow more applications from older people to be rejected, while making it easier to approve applications from people with mental disabilities.

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, called the initiative "the first phase of Republicans' campaign to force Americans to work until old age before they can collect the Social Security benefits they've earned." He called it "the largest cut to the disability benefits program in U.S. history."

The disability benefits program, which costs about $11 billion a month, is separate from the Social Security retirement system and has much stricter eligibility requirements than the veterans' system.

The government is looking for ways to prolong the viability of the rapidly depleting pension fund. Commissioner Frank Bisignano stated that the administration is not considering raising the retirement age.

The process of receiving disability benefits is multi-stage and can take years, especially if the application is denied and subject to subsequent appeals. Early on, the applicant is assessed for a serious medical condition, such as terminal cancer or chronic heart failure. If not, age, education, and work experience are considered to assess their ability to adapt to the workforce.

Claimants over 50 typically have an easier time receiving benefits because they are considered less capable of learning new skills. These factors contributed to the recognition of approximately 42% of claimants as eligible for benefits, according to SSA data for 2022.

To determine what work an applicant can still do, the SSA relies on a Department of Labor database that is outdated and hasn't been updated in more than 30 years, as the economy shifted from manufacturing to services and information.

To remedy the situation, the SSA spent over $300 million to create a modern, 21st-century occupational database. However, following a Washington Post investigation, Congress expressed concern about the spending, and the new database is still not being used to process applications.

According to former SSA employees, next year the agency plans to implement a computer system that will automatically determine which jobs an applicant is potentially capable of, based on current data. Disability advocates fear that this system will be prone to "finding" multiple job options—especially if age is no longer a limitation—and thus lead to widespread denials.

Michelle Spadafore, an attorney with the New York Legal Assistance Group, noted that her elderly clients, deprived of benefits, are rarely able to find work because they struggle to meet the technical and physical demands of modern jobs, and employers are reluctant to hire workers nearing retirement age.

"Nobody stops working just because they reach a certain age and decide that benefits are the logical next step," she noted. "That doesn't happen, because benefits are almost always less than a full-time salary."

Meanwhile, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute, the number of new applications for benefits has fallen by 7% compared to last year, while the number of refusals has increased.

Currently, more than 15 million Americans receive disability benefits through two programs: Social Security Disability Insurance (for those who worked but became disabled before retirement) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a program for low-income, elderly, and disabled people that pays about $800 a month.

Additionally, the SSA plans to repeal a Biden-era rule that expanded SSI eligibility to those living with relatives or neighbors receiving SNAP or other government assistance. Reverting to the previous strict standards, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, would reduce benefits for approximately 400,000 people.

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Spadafora said her clients could lose up to a third of their benefits, and upcoming SNAP cuts under Trump's new tax plan could hit households even harder.

"Even a small cut can be the difference between being able to pay your utility bills and not being able to," she said.

SSA spokesman Mackie stated that the changes "will return the program to its previous criteria and help strengthen its integrity." He emphasized that the draft will be published for public comment, and the public will be able to submit comments before it is approved.

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