The other reason that age is taken into account is that the disability award costs less for an older worker. They can only collect disability until they reach the normal retirement age of 67. Furthermore, they can start collecting early Social Security benefits at age 62, so the additional cost of paying a worker disability benefits rather than Social Security benefits will be limited.
In addition to tightening the benefits, increasing reviews are likely to be a serious burden for many people on disability. People will risk losing much or all of their income if a form is filled out improperly or late, or if the Social Security Administration misplaces it.
Ironically, there is little dispute about the circumstances of the people who are likely to lose benefits. A recent study looked at marginal disability cases those in categories most likely to be denied benefits. Just over a quarter of those denied benefits were working two years after their denial. Furthermore, the average pay of those working was close to 40 percent less than it had been before they were denied benefits. This means that even this quarter of those denied benefits who were able to work faced serious problems performing a job.
In short, Trump's plan is not about saving taxpayers large sums by cracking down on cheats. It is about enlarging the bureaucracy to deny disabled workers the benefits they paid for. What could be more Trumpian?
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