SSA abandons planned disability program overhaul expected to cut benefits for thousands

"The Social Security Administration is abandoning plans to promulgate rules that experts say would have resulted in thousands of people losing their disability benefits. White House deputy chief of staff James Blair and SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano both told Jason Turkish, co-founder of the nonprofit disability advocacy group Alliance for America's Promise, that the forthcoming regulations are not moving forward, Turkish wrote in an email update Wednesday."

"The White House itself, however, said it had not seen such a proposed regulation, despite multiple reports that the administration is abandoning the overhaul. "Despite media speculation about a potential rule change, the White House has not seen any such proposal," a White House official told Nextgov/FCW. "The only policy change to Social Security is President Trump's working families tax cuts legislation, which eliminated taxation of Social Security for almost all beneficiaries - something that every single Democrat voted against.""

Social Security Administration officials communicated that planned regulations altering disability eligibility are not moving forward. White House deputy chief of staff James Blair and SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano informed a disability advocacy leader that the forthcoming regulations are not proceeding. A White House official said the White House had not seen any such proposal and noted the only policy change to Social Security was the tax-cut legislation that largely eliminated taxation of benefits. The SSA still uses occupational data developed in 1938 and last updated in 1991. Since 2012, SSA has worked with the Bureau of Labor Statistics to modernize occupational data. The proposed rule would have replaced the outdated data and adjusted how age and education affect eligibility, potentially reducing access to Social Security Disability Insurance, especially for older applicants.

Read at Nextgov.com