The S.S.A. provides no persuasive medical or scientific data to explain why these conditions can be expected to improve sooner, nor any data to show that beneficiaries stay on disability too long. It only offers some unsubstantiated hope that more frequent reviews will mean that those terminated will re-enter the employment market — hardly a likely outcome.

Despite congressional inquiries, the S.S.A. refuses to release internal data on how many are expected to lose benefits from the new disability reviews. The agency does project it will save $2.6 billion in reduced payments from those terminated, but will also spend an additional $1.8 billion in increased administrative costs. Is a vague hope of some cost savings worth the risk that many will be unfairly denied support?

In reality, there is likely to be an ideological basis for the reviews, as suggested by the writings of Mark Warshawsky, the deputy commissioner for Retirement and Disability Policy, who was appointed in 2017. While at George Mason University’s Koch-family-supported Mercatus Center, Mr. Warshawsky and a co-author urged the elimination of work-related factors such as age, language ability and education level, notwithstanding that the S.S.A. must consider these factors under the Social Security Act in assessing ability to work. These factors are often especially important for older adults, one group singled out for increased review. Mr. Warshawsky and the same co-author have even questioned the agency’s already strict medical criteria for eligibility, asserting that some disabling diseases are now more “livable.” But improved survival rates for once terminal conditions like cancer do not necessarily correlate to people’s ability to do full-time, substantial employment — the test for receiving benefits.

While a reasonable review process is needed and is already in effect, the proposal is far from reasonable. Arbitrary reviews every two years are excessive. Reviews are burdensome and costly for mentally or physically impaired beneficiaries. For people with mental health conditions like anxiety or depression, the stress of the process exacerbates their existing disabilities. People who miss a step are terminated for noncooperation. Very few lawyers are able to take disability review cases, leaving people with disabilities to go it alone. More red tape and appeals are certain.

The Social Security Administration’s new plan caps off a long list of harmful disability measures that have fallen below the radar of the public and media: allowing the agency to disregard the opinion of the claimant’s treating physician; proposing to remove the inability to speak English as a factor relevant to accessing a job; and making it virtually impossible for children with conditions like asthma to qualify under the already very strict medical disability criteria. Other rules, following Mr. Warshawsky’s views, are in the pipeline, including ones adversely impacting older Americans, as The Wall Street Journal recently reported.

The proposal is now open for public comment and will be until Jan. 31. Will the more than 42,000 comments already filed convince the agency to withdraw these plans? Or will the White House step in when they see a total of 3.3 million disability beneficiaries in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida? A disability benefits purge might just be deemed untimely for an election year.

Jonathan M. Stein is a former legal aid lawyer in Philadelphia.

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