{"id":303792,"date":"2025-11-20T19:40:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T19:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/303792\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T19:40:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T19:40:12","slug":"social-security-drops-plan-that-could-have-cut-benefits-for-older-americans-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/303792\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Security drops plan that could have cut benefits for older Americans: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Social Security Administration has reversed course on a major policy shift that could have restricted disability benefits for hundreds of thousands of older Americans, according to reporting from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2025\/11\/19\/social-security-disability-benefits-age\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">The Washington Post<\/a>. Senior officials told advocates late last week that the agency will not move forward with a proposed rule that would have eliminated \u2014 or sharply reduced \u2014 age as a factor when determining whether someone qualifies for federal disability programs.<\/p>\n<p>The reversal follows weeks of public outcry, after the Post revealed in October that the plan was nearing approval. They said it could have fundamentally changed how disability claims are evaluated. <\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-block-san-app-download__qr\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/app-download-block-qr-code.png\" alt=\"QR code for SAN app download\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-san-app-download__title\">\n\t\t\tDownload the SAN app today to stay up-to-date with Unbiased. Straight Facts\u2122.\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-san-app-download__subtitle\">\n\t\t\tPoint phone camera here\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The draft rule had been pushed internally by officials aligned with Trump-era efforts to tighten the social safety net.<\/p>\n<p>What the change would have done<\/p>\n<p>Under current standards, age is a major part of the disability determination process. Applicants over 50 are more likely to qualify because they are considered less able to adapt to different kinds of work.<\/p>\n<p>The Post reported that the administration was considering removing age from the equation entirely or raising the threshold to 60. They\u2019re moves that disability attorneys warned could cut benefits for older workers with significant physical limitations.<\/p>\n<p>Advocates say Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano personally intervened to halt the rule.<\/p>\n<p>A second project is also paused<\/p>\n<p>The agency is also pausing a separate initiative to replace its outdated job-matching system with modern labor market data.<\/p>\n<p>That project has cost more than $350 million, the Post reported, and was expected to reshape how Social Security determines whether a claimant could perform other work.<\/p>\n<p>Concerns inside the administration included fears that the new database could actually make younger workers with cognitive and mental impairments more likely to qualify.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tStart your day with fact-based news.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-san-san-inarticle-newsletter-signup__learn-more\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/san.com\/newsletters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Learn more<\/a> about our emails. Unsubscribe Anytime.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Advocates praise the reversal<\/p>\n<p>Groups representing older and disabled Americans welcomed the decision.<\/p>\n<p>AARP said the disability program is a \u201ccritical lifeline\u201d and applauded the agency for backing away from changes that could have undermined financial security for millions. Others noted that the proposal ran counter to Trump\u2019s repeated promise not to cut Social Security benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Social Security Administration has reversed course on a major policy shift that could have restricted disability benefits&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,147,530],"class_list":{"0":"post-303792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-personal-finance","10":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}