Seniors’ Safety Net in Shambles. These critical safety net programs provide support to people during times of economic hardship. People facing economic instability often need more than one program or service. Here are four major examples of senior programs where seniors’ safety nets are in shambles

Social Security’s death by a thousand cuts.

Social Security is a huge part of seniors’ safety net. It is one example of the seniors’ safety net being shredded. Social Security’s safety net is shredding slowly. The entitlement is being cut by the Trump Administration. The big tax and spending package President Trump signed into law last year really weakened Social Security. It reduced the tax revenue that funds the program. That’s just one issue older Americans face under this administration. It is another key example of a vile policy that puts Seniors’ Safety Net in Shambles

Medicare and Medicaid Safety Net are in Shambles

WE see before us that the Medicare and Medicaid Safety Net are in Shambles. The actual shredder is Project 2025–  Trump described Medicare and Medicaid as “runaway entitlements” in desperate need of “reform. Project 25, totally adopted by the Trump Administration, is a major cause for the Seniors’ Safety Net in Shambles

“In essence, our deficit problem is a Medicare and Medicaid problem,” the document said.  

Social safety net and entitlement programs provide support for seniors. They also cover disabled and low-income Americans. These senior groups were portrayed in the report as areas ripe with waste, fraud, and/or abuse. 

Project 2025 proposed changes to Medicare and Medicaid. These entitlements provide health care to seniors and low-income Americans. Project 25 also recommended eliminating Head Start. This program funds preschool programs for low-income children. Project 25 also recommended overhauling the nation’s rental housing assistance programs. To finish out the bloodbath of the needy, they want to expand work requirements for the nation’s primary food assistance program.

During the 2024 campaign, Trump’s critics often warned that “Trump’s Project 2025” would cut “Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid,” as Sen. Bernie Sanders said at the Democratic convention.

Medicaid Shredded in 2027

Medicaid’s Safety Net in Shambles: Medicaid is affected by changes from new work requirements for Medicaid enrollees. This will increase the number of people without health insurance by 7.5 million in 2034. These enrollees are in the ACA Medicaid expansion group. States will need to make major policy decisions and systems upgrades, likely in advance of formal federal guidance, to be ready to implement work requirements in January 2027. In 2026, states will begin implementing Medicaid policy changes that are estimated to increase the number of people without health insurance by 7.5 million in 2034. 

Over half (5.3 million) are in partial expansion waiver programs (Georgia and Wisconsin) starting January 1, 2027. Beyond work requirements, the 2025 reconciliation law made other Medicaid eligibility changes. This includes pausing implementation of some provisions in two Biden-era eligibility and enrollment rules restricting Medicaid eligibility for certain lawfully present immigrants, and requiring states to conduct more frequent eligibility redeterminations for ACA expansion adults.

IHSS Home Care for Seniors Shredded

Home care for seniors with disabilities is another big part of the safety net for seniors. It is totally alarming that IHSS Home Care for Seniors Shredded now. Older adults and people with disabilities want to and should be able to remain at home with their families and in their communities and receive the help they need to live lives of dignity. Instead of supporting states to strengthen aging and disability care programs, the Trump administration announced yesterday that it is withholding an unprecedented $1.3 billion in Medicaid funding from California, including funding for in-home supportive services (IHSS) the state already delivered

This action of IHSS Home Care for Seniors Shredded is part of a pattern of attacks on older adults, people with disabilities, and their families across the country who rely on Medicaid to live safely in their homes instead of institutions. It’s also part of a larger aim to redistribute resources from the bottom to the top.

The administration’s latest cut, like the Medicaid cuts enacted through H.R.1, will take away services that people need to remain at home and in their communities, while forcing family caregivers to choose between their own financial security and providing care for loved ones.

While ensuring Medicaid funding is going towards care is critical to sustaining the program, the federal government should not punish older adults and families by cutting the vital services they depend on to meet their basic needs.

Withholding this level of Medicaid funding from California or any state means older adults, people with disabilities, and their families will suffer. And this is all while billionaires and corporations get richer from the tax cuts financed by stripping health care from low-income older adults and families.

Millions lose SNAP benefits

Millions lose SNAP benefits as One Big Beautiful Bill’s stricter requirements kick in

Food Assistance Shredded From Seniors’ Safety Net

SNAP enrollment ( old food stamps) has fallen sharply nationwide since the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer. More than 3.5 million people have lost access to the food assistance, as states implement new eligibility requirements and stricter application processes. William Brangham reports on what’s happening and speaks with Harvard professor of public health policy Sara Naomi Bleich for more.

.More than 3.5 million people have lost access to the food assistance

Enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, has fallen sharply nationwide since the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer.

More than 38 million people receive food assistance. But more than 3.5 million have lost access as states implement new eligibility requirements and stricter application processes.

Last year’s Republican centerpiece budget law is projected to cut $186 billion in federal spending on SNAP over the next decade. But it’s not only about funding cuts. The new law changed eligibility criteria. The budget raised the age limit for work requirements from 54 to 64 and increased the amount of documentation required to enroll. Since then, every state has seen a decline in people enrolled in SNAP, led by Arizona, where participation has fallen by 51 percent, according to some estimates. And those who are still eligible are receiving much lower benefits and often facing longer reauthorization times.

What Can You Do to Help?

What can you do? Contact your Congressman. Tell them you want the senior safety net repaired by eliminating these cuts .Go to a town meeting if your congressman holds one. Join Indivisible. 

Together, we can solve this crisis that attacks the poor, the aging, and the disabled to fund the rich. Pick one cause you want to back, like the SNAP Program Cuts, Cuts to Programs for community living vs. nursing homes, or huge Medicaid cuts. What can you do? Contact your Congressman and tell them that the federal government should not starve older people, make them live in a nursing home instead of the community, cut Medicaid, and have nowhere to go but the ER. The US is the wealthiest country in the world. It should not shred vast holes in seniors’ safety nets so they will fall through. Go to a town meeting if your congressman holds one. 

Together, we can develop strategies to mend these safety nets that protect the vulnerable. Vote for congresspeople who support seniors’ needs. Make a plan now to vote in November for candidates who believe in an equitable society. Prepare your path to the voting booth in case barriers are put up, like Trump’s plan to stop voting by Mail or to send the National Guard to voting sites. Educate yourself now on what barriers there may be to voting and prepare; educate yourself now on candidates on the ballot, their backgrounds & platforms in your city and state, and for President now and until the vote, by joining the League of Women Voters or other similar organizations.


ABOUT CATHY Cathy Cress holds an MSW in Aging from UC Berkeley. Her book, Handbook of Geriatric Care Management, published by Jones and Bartlett, is the Bible of geriatric care … Continue reading About us

Find out more about Cathy Cress, MSW, at her website

Cathy Cress