Trump’s budget cuts devastate marginalized communities. Disabled individuals face loss of Medicaid health services. Funds are shifted to ICE and wars. Retirees face looming social security insolvency.
These issues are interconnected. Reactionary policies like the “Big Beautiful Bill” cut $1 trillion from social services, and Musk’s DOGE laid off over 300,000 federal workers. Both aim to end food assistance and healthcare benefits for countless immigrants who fund Medicaid with their taxes and pay into Social Security but can’t claim it.
Disabled people impacted
Qualifying for Medicaid forces people to live in poverty. The maximum Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit for a disabled adult is just $994 per month. Savings and assets combined are limited to $2,000, not even enough for an apartment deposit. Many must live with relatives.
Rule changes often slash Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) like assistance to toilet, bathe, dress and eat. One missed check mark on paperwork can end funding without notice. A case review often reduces hours of care so much that basic needs go unmet. One day without HCBS can mean the difference between life and death.
Lack of caregivers is an ongoing crisis. Immigrants make up 30%–40% of care providers nationwide, so ICE kidnappings remove critically needed domestic workers. Others can’t live on the low wages.
Further impacting disabled people are strict income and asset limits, more paperwork, and increased work hour decrees. Many on Medicaid already have jobs or volunteer and can’t meet the 20-hours-per-week work requirement. Exemptions require proof of total inability to work. Doctors’ letters are not accepted.
Forced institutionalization
Besides healthcare service cuts, new proposals threaten disabled folks’ incomes. The latest scheme is cutting SSI by 30% to those who live with family. Thus, full housing costs will shift to aging parents or relatives.
Moreover, in violation of the 1999 Supreme Court Olmstead decision, the Justice Department says state funding of HCBS is optional. The push to escalate institutionalized imprisonment based on disability is no longer hidden. Seniors without disabilities aren’t immune to these impacts. As adults age, having supportive care is essential to stay at home.
According to the summary of the 2026 reports by the Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees, Social Security and Medicare trust funds will run out by 2032, and cut benefits up to 30%. This disaster won’t affect SSI or Medicaid but will slash retirement, Medicare and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), a benefit for workers who become disabled.
Trump fired so many federal workers that it’s impossible to conduct business. Staff cuts of 13%–54% at the Social Security Administration and other agencies cause delayed paperwork, and wait times of up to 12 weeks for in-person appointments.
Crucial demands for action
Disability is the only oppressed group that anyone can join at any time. The right of disabled people to live at home must be protected. Scrap the cap on Social Security taxes; provide universal healthcare; stop privatization of services; and end ICE kidnappings of our neighbors. Disabled people, immigrants, and caregiver unions are some of the strongest fighters. Our power amplifies when we fight side by side!
