{"id":223505,"date":"2026-06-01T08:24:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T12:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/getting-disability-benefits-got-harder-after-the-social-security-administrations-staff-was-slashed-and-program-rules-were-changed-by-trump\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T08:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T12:35:13","slug":"getting-disability-benefits-got-harder-after-the-social-security-administrations-staff-was-slashed-and-program-rules-were-changed-by-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/getting-disability-benefits-got-harder-after-the-social-security-administrations-staff-was-slashed-and-program-rules-were-changed-by-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting disability benefits got harder after the Social Security Administration\u2019s staff was slashed and program rules were changed by Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/getting-disability-benefits-got-harder-after-the-social-security-administrations-staff-was-slashed-and-program-rules-were-changed-by-trump-279434\">Getting disability benefits got harder after the Social Security Administration\u2019s staff was slashed and program rules were changed by Trump<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/getting-disability-benefits-got-harder-after-the-social-security-administrations-staff-was-slashed-and-program-rules-were-changed-by-trump-279434\">https:\/\/theconversation.com\/getting-disability-benefits-got-harder-after-the-social-security-administrations-staff-was-slashed-and-program-rules-were-changed-by-trump-279434<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-06-01 08:24:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"theconversation.com\">theconversation.com<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>A series of significant changes within the Social Security Administration (SSA) under the Trump administration, including large-scale staffing cuts and policy alterations, have made it more challenging for millions of Americans to access disability benefits.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>The SSA reduced its workforce by more than 7,100 employees, about 13%, closing regional offices and increasing reliance on automated systems and online services.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Frequent rule reversals, such as initially prohibiting phone applications for benefits before reversing the decision, created confusion and uncertainty.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Key performance metrics like phone wait times and application processing times were removed from the SSA\u2019s public information, reducing transparency.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Interviews with disability benefits advocates revealed long wait times, inadequate staffing, and difficulties in navigating the SSA\u2019s changes, contributing to hindered access to benefits.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>The push to use online services overlooks the challenges faced by low-income and elderly applicants, some of whom may have difficulty with digital platforms.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Fears related to immigration enforcement and reported sharing of SSA appointment data with ICE have caused further anxiety among immigrant beneficiaries and their support networks.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>The reduction in experienced staff and stringent appointment protocols have led to severe delays, with some terminally ill clients dying without receiving their benefits.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Recommendations from the studies include expanding staffing to handle applications efficiently, providing better feedback mechanisms with professionals, and ensuring data privacy and accessibility for all applicants.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getting disability benefits got harder after the Social Security Administration\u2019s staff was slashed and program&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":223506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/734544\/original\/file-20260507-57-2dsk6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&rect=0%2C379%2C4548%2C2274&q=45&auto=format&w=1356&h=668&fit=crop","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223505"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223505"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223507,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223505\/revisions\/223507"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}