The Trump administration is reportedly plotting a major overhaul of Social Security that could see hundreds of thousands of older Americans lose their disability benefits.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) is considering eliminating age as a factor in determining eligibility for disability payments, or raising the current threshold from 50 to 60, sources told The Washington Post.
Currently, the SSA uses a mix of age, work experience, and education levels to assess whether a person can transition to other types of work before approving disability payments. Applicants over 50 are generally more likely to be approved, as age is often viewed as a limiting factor in retraining or career changes.
Jack Smalligan, a senior policy fellow at the Urban Institute and former Office of Management and Budget official, estimated that if eligibility were reduced by just 10 percent, roughly 750,000 people could lose benefits over the next decade. Another 80,000 widows and children could lose benefits tied to a disabled spouse or parent.
SSA spokesman Barton Mackey told the Post the agency is working to “propose improvements to the disability adjudication process to ensure our disability program remains current and can be more efficiently administered.”
Conservatives argue that reform is necessary as people live longer and that many disabled workers could move into less physically demanding desk or office jobs.
However, Smalligan’s research suggests that older people who lose their disability benefits often fail to transition into new roles, forcing them to tap into their retirement benefits much earlier than planned.
The overhaul is reportedly a top priority for Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, a top Trump ally and former Project 2025 architect who featured as the Grim Reaper in a bizarre AI-generated video posted by the president last week.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, blasted the proposed changes, calling them part of a broader Republican effort to slash Social Security.
“This is Phase One of the Republican campaign to force Americans to work into old age to access their earned Social Security benefits, and represents the largest cut to disability insurance in American history,” Wyden told the Post.
“Americans with disabilities have worked and paid into Social Security just like everybody else, and they do not deserve the indignity of more bureaucratic water torture to get what they paid for.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Social Security Administration for comment.
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