Trump and Republicans plan to cut Medicaid

[felix_dakat]

Trump promised not to cut social security benefits. So far he’s just going to make it more difficult for anybody to get the benefits.
But, who knows how far he will go? There are old and disabled people for whom Social Security benefits are their only source of income. Disruption in their benefits could kill them. And it will make it harder for people to get benefits in the first place. It’s a draconian and inhumane way to cut costs by billionaires who don’t understand how the system works and could care less.

Social Security Administration to Cut Roughly 7,000 Workers

The agency is also restructuring and closing six of 10 regional offices that coordinate and provide support to employees who serve beneficiaries.

The agency said the reductions would focus on functions and employees “who do not directly provide mission critical services.”Credit…Joshua Bright for The New York Times

By Tara Siegel Bernard

Feb. 28, 2025

President Trump’s escalating initiative to drastically cut the federal work force has reached the Social Security Administration, a crucial program that keeps millions of older Americans out of poverty, which said on Friday that it would reduce its head count by more than 12 percent.

The Social Security Administration, which sends about 73 million retired and disabled beneficiaries more than $126 billion each month, said it had plans to cut roughly 7,000 workers from its 57,000-member work force.

The agency will also shutter six regional offices, which coordinate and provide support to workers on the front lines who serve beneficiaries, bringing the total count to four: in the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest/West Region and Southwest. The agency said the reductions would focus on functions and employees “who do not directly provide mission critical services.”

Those who do work with beneficiaries hold positions in field offices, disability hearing offices and payment centers and support its toll-free customer service line.(https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/business/social-security-administration-job-cuts.html#after-story-ad-1)

Amid the cuts, two dozen senior staff members have announced their departures, according to a memo issued Friday from Leland C. Dudek, the Social Security Administration’s acting commissioner. He took the reins after Michelle King, the previous acting commissioner, left abruptly after refusing to give people working on the government’s cost-cutting initiative access to closely held data.

“I have never seen so many senior executives leave the Social Security Administration at one time,” said Jason Fichtner, who has served in several positions at the agency, including deputy commissioner and chief economist. “Coming so soon after the resignation of acting Commissioner Michelle King, this is evidence that the agency is in turmoil and needs an experienced leader to take control.”

Democrats in Congress were quick to criticize the agency’s staff reductions, and said it was inevitable that customer service would be harmed.

Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington State and vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said customer service operations had long had historically low staffing levels and inadequate discretionary funding, pointing to 30-minute wait timeswhen beneficiaries call the toll-free number, which receives 80 million calls annually. That is on top of 57 million calls and 30 million visits to its 1,200 field offices, according to her office.

Senator Patty Murray of Washington State said reducing the Social Security Administration’s work force would make it harder for Americans to receive benefits.Credit…Eric Lee/The New York Times

“Gutting S.S.A.’s work force will make it significantly harder for Americans to get the benefits they have earned — and much harder to get the help they need,” she said in a statement.

[Wanderlust]

@Ecmandu

Now we’re in a global Petrie dish, we can see what works best around the world.

Okay, but what about the people being used as guinea pigs?

[felix_dakat]

Trump: Crazy like a fox or just crazy?

• Jan. 20: On the day of Trump’s inauguration, he promises tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China will be implemented Feb. 1.
• Feb. 1: Trump signs executive order to implement tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, set to start on
• Canada, Mexico and China, set to start on Feb. 4. Canada announces retaliatory 25% tariffs.
• Feb. 3: Trump delays tariffs on Canada and Mexico by a month. He says Mexico will send 10,000 troops to the U.S. border in order to curb migration, and he was trying to work out an economic structure with Canada.
• Feb. 4: 10% tariffs are, in fact, put in place against China with China issuing retaliatory tariffs. The Postal Service puts a ban on packages from Hong Kong and China.
• Feb. 5: The Postal Service reverses course and lifts the ban it put in place on Chinese packages because of the potential to create massive disruptions for online retailers and U.S. shoppers.
• Feb. 10: Trump says he will impose 25% tariffs on steel imports from all countries, and he raises aluminum tariffs from 10% to 25%.
• Feb. 13: Trump signs a memorandum that sets the stage for "reciprocal tariffs"to go into effect across the board on April 2.
• Feb. 26: Trump says at Cabinet meeting he might give Canada and Mexico a one-month reprieve on tariffs until April 2.
• Feb. 27: Trump reverses course and says they will go into effect March 4.
• Saturday: Trump signs executive order to increase U.S. lumber production and orders probe into potential lumber import tariffs. The U.S. imports billions of dollars in lumber products from Canada.
• Sunday: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says tariffs on Canada and Mexico remain a “fluid situation” and that they could be less than 25%.
• Monday: Lutnick again says it’s possible the tariffs don’t go into effect, but Trump later confirms they will.
• Tuesday: Trump levies 25% tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China. China hits the U.S. with retaliatory tariffs, including on some agricultural imports, including chicken, pork, soy and beef. Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau blasts Trump for cozying up to Russian President Putin and imposing tariffs against allies. He threatens to hit the U.S. with retaliatory tariffs. Mocking Trudeau as “governor,” Trump says he will hit back if that happens. The stock market tumbles in response. Lutnick says some of the tariffs could be rolled back as soon as the next day.
• Wednesday: Trump delays tariffs related to autos until April 2.
• Thursday: Trump delays tariffs on Mexican goods. Later, he does the same for Canadian goods. The reprieve expires April 2.

[felix_dakat]

Politics

Social Security’s acting chief privately admits DOGE ‘will make mistakes’ while cuts delay processing of claims, report says

By Jason Ma, 1 day ago

Fortune

Follow

• The Social Security Administration’s acting commissioner recently acknowledged that “DOGE people are learning and they will make mistakes, but we have to let them see what is going on at SSA,” according to the Washington Post . Meanwhile, the report added that cuts to staff, spending and operating systems are already delaying the processing of claims.

Acting Social Security Administration Commissioner Leland Dudek privately admitted that Elon Musk’s team of cost-cutters will trip up, sources told the Washington Post .

In a meeting Tuesday with senior staff, legal-aid attorneys, and advocates, the agency’s interim chief acknowledged that the Department of Government Efficiency are “outsiders who are unfamiliar with nuances of SSA programs,” according to the report, which cited detailed notes taken by someone at the meeting.

“DOGE people are learning and they will make mistakes, but we have to let them see what is going on at SSA,” Dudek said. “I am relying on longtime career people to inform my work, but I am receiving decisions that are made without my input. I have to effectuate those decisions.”

The Social Security Administration didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

President Donald Trump has vowed not to cut benefits but has claimed massive fraud. Musk also raised concerns about his plans for the safety net after he said tens of millions of dead Americans are receiving Social Security checks—a claim the Associated Press debunked .

And last week, he added to fears when he called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” and described the federal government as “one big pyramid scheme.”

In a separate message to SSA staff obtained by the Post , Dudek said the agency has been operating on autopilot for too long, creating inefficiencies.

“We have spent billions annually doing the same things the same way leading to bureaucratic stagnation, inefficiency, and a lack of meaningful service improvements. It is time to change that," he wrote last Saturday, adding that the agency would outsource “nonessential functions to industry experts.”

Dudek plans to cut 7,000 jobs as part of the Trump administration’s broader push across the federal government to slash staffing levels and trim costs. But SSA has already seen a number of departures at senior levels , including regional commissioners and top leadership.

Meanwhile, Trump’s nominee to lead the agency, Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano, awaits Senate confirmation.

SSA employees told the Post that DOGE-led cuts to staff, spending and operating systems are already sowing chaos and delaying the processing of claims, including reviews of disability claims and hearings before administrative law judges.

In addition, wait times for customer service on phones lines have grown to hours with one regional office forced to take calls from two-thirds of Indiana. Handling all the calls means staff haven’t been able to process retirement claims, according to the report.

And DOGE’s spending freeze on government credit cards has prevented some offices from paying their phone bills.

The US DOGE Service didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

“It’s just chaos, people are terrified, and no one knows anything, including our supervisors,” one employee told the Post , while another worker with 30 years of experience warned, “No one really knows what they’re doing, no one has answers, and at some point, something is going to break.”

Of particular concern is the 65-year-old programming language known as COBOL, which is used at SSA and at other federal agencies.

COBOL is no longer taught to recent engineering hires at SSA, sources told CNN , and long-tenured IT staff with experience dealing with the fragile system—as well as the numerous software workarounds that keep it running—are at retirement age.

Former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley, who headed the agency during the Biden administration, told CNBC last week that cuts have already led to IT outages, which he predicted will become more frequent and last longer each time until there’s a total failure .

“Ultimately, you’re going to see the system collapse and an interruption of benefits. I believe you will see that within the next 30 to 90 days," he said, adding that “people should start saving now” before payments stop.

Charles Blahous, a senior research strategist at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center and a former public trustee for Social Security, told Fortune on Monday it’s unclear whether the SSA staff cuts are more likely to result in an interruption of benefits or an increase in improper payments.

That’s because claims for Social Security disability payments involve more hands-on work compared to retirement benefits, which are more efficient, he explained.

“It’s not obvious to me where the choke point will be,” Blahous said in an email. “If the reduced staff err on the side of making sure all claims are processed, improper payments will likely rise. If instead the reduced staff prioritizes preventing improper payments, the risk of processing delays would increase.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Further delays in social Security claims will have tragic effects when the process already can take at least a couple years in appeals. More people will die before they get help. This is not about efficiency, quite the opposite. It’s about tax cuts for the very rich.

[Meno4]

Probably both overlap defying logic, the synthesis is resulted from a prior order’s summation or is such bits of information unavailable as yet because of the need for regular, timely recalculation? Or is such result compromised by the optically delusive echoing effect coming down from above ?

Does that justify the required procedure to deal with upper limit projections?

Too many questions unseen as necessary challenges, within a proceeding questions yet, without the specific requirements sought after.

What is really significant here is neither Medicaid or Medicare both, but the inclusion all forms of social security system as a whole , (reflective to FDR’s post war payback to incurred debt to the lower taxed brackets’ contribution without which the economic superiority of US post war expansion and the war won) reaffirming Regan’s rain down principle into Capital’s war chest.

[felix_dakat]

@Meno4

What is really significant here is neither Medicaid or Medicare both, but both’s inclusion in wards to the social security system as a whole.

Under SSI, disabled persons qualify for Medicaid. Under SSDI they qualify for Medicare.

[Meno4]

The presumption here is the inclusion of all forms of social assistance, where progressively viewed the difference is growing to indifference rather than any significant difference between the normal and not normal claimant for health services, even minimizing how DOGE or DEI figures into the formula.

Sorry bout that

Some ideas implicit in this formula may lost in the translation,

The myth of an American classless society, as heralded by Regan to Gorbachev , can not be projected on basis of such proof less projections, when such simulations could not yet be reverse engineered.

[felix_dakat]

By the end of this week, the staff of the agency, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, could be cut by 50 percent, according to senior staff members at the agency and congressional aides who attended briefings by Trump officials.

With just under 900 employees and a budget of $7.2 billion for large state grants and individual nonprofits that address addiction and mental illness, SAMHSA (pronounced SAM-sah) is relatively small. But it addresses two of the nation’s most urgent health problems and has generally had bipartisan support.

The agency’s broad mandate includes overseeing 988, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which fields millions of calls through state offices; regulating outpatient clinics that dispense opioid treatment drugs such as methadone; directing funds to drug courts (also called “treatment courts”); and producing nationwide annual surveys of substance use and mental health issues.

[Meno4]

You are right on point, however there is some thing else going on maybe I’ll remembered but it too had to do with Regan foreshadowing things to come and that point went like this:
Not necessarily budget cuts, but guidance coming from clinicians, more psychiatric inpatients recommended to release patients due to a changing protocol which believe it or not, was due to reclassify diagnosis in terms of changing and liberating mental illness according to changing criteria that became the operational criteria suggested by Szasz and Laing,

It appeared problematic and controversial, near paradoxical for a republican president to go along with it, but then other issues on the table may have been compensated on opposite poles.

The trickle down assumption, could have been helped, by such shift in the political balance.

As the only valid treatment method that resulted from this shift, behavior modification and the use of new drugs, were felt at the time to achieve a better result then the mostly abandoned analytic treatments, for which affordability contributed that method unaffordable.

So when social services are cut, the same fiscal policies and treatment successes are taken into consideration and thus justified. That this too is unworkable since the majority of homeless are judged to be mentally ill, they apparently have their suffering upped as well as the drugs that they have become addicted to( try quitting large dowses of these medicines - Effexor is only a major tranquilizer I believe.

But there are the Great Depression type homeless gathering at times in groups, giving homeless the appearance of some kind of normality Szasz and other anti psychiatrists can point to.

To sum up, the clumping of social services into services are more helpful, then segregating SSI from Medicare-Medicaid. One budget, where the the support does not differentiate between criteria is brought about the necessity of linking evaluation without to draw a border line between the relative good prognosis of disease brought about drug and alcohol use , and those who have major psychotic processes going on without drugs and alcohol(although there probably is a large overlap)

[felix_dakat]

@Meno4

Szasz and Laing,

This has nothing to do with Szasz and Laing, psychiatry or any kind of help to or treatment of the mentally ill. Radical libertarianism is more like it, and that is too kind a name. Callous narcissistic greed is more like it.

[Meno4]

Conceptually they can be linked , though, and it is really a kind of borderline issue:

From will:

Copilot Answer

Greed is not listed as a mental disorder in psychiatry’s diagnostic manual, but it is associated with negative psychological states such as stress, exhaustion, anxiety, depression, and despair, and with maladaptive behaviours such as gambling, scavenging, hoarding, trickery, and theft. Both narcissism and greed have their roots in profound self-doubt. Greed and rampant materialism can deprive us of balanced and joyful lives, distort our lives, neglect our relationships, and impoverish our souls.

truthout.org**+3**

[Meno4]

How symptoms and listings appear more a politically linked criteria can be appreciated, what jumps out is things like: masturbation leads to insanity, later, it led to homosexuality, then to repression -denial-then to borderline-hschyzotype,

Then it Turned back to be primarily declassified from any maladjustment.

The Holy See, stuck to the original classification, labeling it a something like disfunctional construction, ( I’ll try to reference this)

As a auxilarry result of repression, the ‘Shadow’ working behind the scenes, caused the outrage surrounding the sexual problems associated with priests a decade ago. The fact that a straight line could not be drawn along the course this revelation took, worked against the Vatican.

So yes, it could be claimed that anti-psychiatry failed to stop the reconstructive process from plunging ever with more earnestness.

Would a partial nod to this be slotted in a general scheme?

[felix_dakat]

The so called “Anti-psychiatry movement” was an advancement In the understanding and treatment of human suffering. But most psychiatrists still use the medical model which is dehumanizing and hasn’t kept up with science. The way people sling around psychiatry, jargon to negatively label people in popular media is a reflection of that deficiency. But you weren’t doing that and your post above that I responded to. I take your point to be something more like the ancient saying” Nothing human is alien to me” a sentiment with which I heartily agree.

[HumAnIze]

How dare those evil republicans want to stop taking other peoples’ money and giving it to people with disabilities! (said every liberal ever)

Why, just for that I’m going to write a check to Medicaid giving them my own money so they can give it to someone else who is disabled! (said no liberal ever)

[Meno4]

Maybe Ec had a point in viewing existence as an illness, foreshadowed by Kierkegaard’s saying that it is a sickness unto death, but is not a quick cure of Reichian hubris a sudden release of a fantasy of eternally returning joy?

That it’s more likely than not is indicative to Nietzche’s teacher’s pessimistic teaching to return to the romantic idiom, or, is it a formal warning set in black and white tones on the continuum?

[felix_dakat]

Deleted

[Ecmandu]

I’ve been watching the History channel lately. There’s a show called history’s greatest mysteries.

They should feature an episode… “why do people vote against their best interests?”

Propaganda is extremely sophisticated now. People get paid millions of dollars from the only 5 media outlets to just only use propaganda on news.

Most people aren’t that smart. It’s sad when I see it.