SSA Offers Buyouts to Staff Ahead of Planned Workforce Reductions and Field Office Closures

The Social Security Administration is offering financial incentives of $15,000 to $25,000 to staff who voluntarily resign from the agency before mandated staffing reductions and office closures take place. Acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek reportedly intends to cut the agency’s staff by 50%. 

Nearly 60,000 Americans work for the SSA. Most are in front-line roles and help people apply for benefits, answer questions, or solve problems. There is just one Social Security worker for every 1,900 beneficiaries. On average, 118,000 Americans visit a Social Security office each day with more getting help on the phone. 

Former SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley posted a warning on X. “Social Security is being driven to a total system collapse. I give the DOGE kids and co-President Musk 30-90 days before they crater it to the point of interruption of benefits.”

“This Administration is trying to dismantle Social Security piece by piece. Trump has broken his promise not to ‘touch’ Social Security,” said Robert Roach, Jr., President of the Alliance. “The Alliance stands with Congressman Larson, and others, to pass legislation to stop this assault on the most vulnerable Americans.”

House Passes Budget Proposal That Slashes Medicare and Cuts Taxes for the Rich

The House of Representatives passed a FY 2025 Budget Resolution in a 217-215 party-line vote. President Donald Trump personally lobbied several House Republicans to vote for the proposal. 
 
The budget blueprint calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations and deep cuts to Medicaid ($880 billion) and food assistance ($230 billion) for low-income Americans over ten years.

“This vote demonstrates how House Republicans will stop at nothing to give tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, even if it threatens the livelihood of millions of seniors,” said Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance. “However, we still have an opportunity to prevent these cuts from being enacted and we will hold every politician who voted for this cruel budget accountable.”
 
Learn more: See how many people in your state rely on Medicaid for health care here.

Supreme Court Schedules Arguments in Case Challenging ACA Benefits Mandate

On Monday, the Supreme Court scheduled arguments for April 21 for an Affordable Care Act (ACA) case that will decide the legality of ACA’s requirement that insurers cover certain preventive services. For example, the ACA requires Medicare to provide free annual wellness checks and health screenings. 
 
The challenge was brought by Texas employers who argue that the preventive services mandate is unconstitutional because the recommendations are made by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, not elected officials. If the justices agree with their argument, free preventive care for millions of Americans will be in jeopardy. 
 
Twenty-three attorneys general filed an amicus brief asking the court to protect the requirement that guarantees access to critical preventive care for millions of Americans.
 
“The Affordable Care Act’s preventive services provide critical care for millions of Americans,” said Joseph Peters, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. “Without these preventive services, millions of Medicare beneficiaries will pay more for essential health care.”

KFF Health News: Republicans Once Wanted Government out of Health Care. Trump Voters See It Differently.

Like many Americans who voted for Donald Trump, Jason Rouse hopes the president’s return will mean lower prices for gas, groceries, and other essentials.

But Rouse is looking to the federal government for relief from one particular pain point: high health care costs. “The prices are just ridiculous,” said Rouse, 53, a retired Michigan firefighter and paramedic who has voted for Trump three times. “I’d like to see a lower cap on what I have to pay out-of-pocket.”

Government regulation of health care prices used to be heresy for most Republicans. GOP leaders fiercely opposed the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which included government limits on patients’ costs. More recently, the party fought legislation signed by former President Joe Biden to cap prescription drug prices.

But as Trump begins his second term, many of the voters who sent him back to the White House welcome more robust government action to rein in a health care system many Americans perceive as out of control, polls show.

Read more here.

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