The Trump administration is weighing changes that would scale back how age is counted in Social Security disability reviews, with options ranging from limiting age weighting to applicants 60 and older to dropping it altogether, according to The Washington Post. Newsweek reported the White House denies any change is planned to how determinations are made.
Under current rules, adjudicators consider a claimant’s age alongside work history and education; older applicants often qualify more easily because age is treated as a constraint on switching to new work. Changing that rule could make it harder for some older Americans to qualify for benefits and may push more into early retirement with lower lifetime payments.
What the documents or officials say
The Social Security Administration is working on plans to “propose improvements to the disability adjudication process,” including updating occupational data sources, an SSA spokesperson told The Washington Post, adding any proposal would go through public notice-and-comment before a final decision.
The Post reported the effort is a priority for Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and follows an earlier, unfinished push at the end of Trump’s first term. Officials are also reportedly looking to replace a legacy list of jobs with newer Bureau of Labor Statistics data that would inform what work claimants could reasonably perform.
How many people could be affected?
Jack Smalligan of the Urban Institute estimated that if eligibility were reduced by 10%, about 750,000 fewer people would receive disability benefits for all or part of the next decade, with roughly 80,000 fewer widows and children qualifying — an $82 billion reduction in payouts over 10 years.
SSA data cited by the Post show that age factored into about 42% of approvals in 2022.
What the White House and critics say
Deputy press secretary Kush Desai told Newsweek that “President Trump will always protect and defend Social Security” and that “the only policy change to Social Security” is the administration’s tax measure eliminating taxation for almost all beneficiaries.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the reported change “represents the largest cut to disability insurance in American history,” according to The Washington Post. In a separate statement, Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., called the proposal “cruel” and tied it to a broader effort to cut federal benefits.
