Veronica Taylor does not know how to turn on the computer, not to mention the use of the Internet.
The 73 -year -old can not often drive her car in her mountainous and worn community in Virginia, where a simple trip to the grocery store can take an hour by car.
New requirementsIt will be almost impossible to meet almost online social security beneficiaries or personally in the field office, not on the phone, without help.
“If this is the only way I had to do this, how do I do that?” Taylor said, talking about changes while eating a plate of green beans, Mac, cheese and fried fish with a group of retirees at the McDawell County Center. “I will never do anything.”
The requirements, which were appointed to go into effect on March 31, aim to simplify operations and fightingWide scrambling fraudInside the system, according to the presidentDonald TrumpAnd officials in his administration.
They say this is why it is important for people to check their identity via the Internet or personally when registering to obtain advantages, or making a change like a place of money deposit.
butDefendersSuppose the changes will not affect the most vulnerable Americans. It will be difficult to visit the field offices in rural areas with high poverty rates. These are often the same areas that lack Internet service on a large scale.
Several social security offices are closed, which are part of the efforts to reduce the cost of the federal government. This may mean that the elderly should travel further to the visit, including in parts of Virginia rural state.
Donald Reed, who runs a local non -profit organization running two senior centers, said he has serious concerns about changing politics, and how this will affect the people who serve his group.
He said: “I am not a fight against Trump-let me say that.” “I think the general public is largely supporting the search for a waste of government. I do not think that the general public understands the consequences of the current measures of the government.”
Poor rural areas can be the most difficult blow
One of every three people lives in poverty in McCduel province, onceOne of the largest coal producers in the country. About 30 % of the population receives the advantages of social security and 20 % lack a bold access. People are already facing huge challenges in reaching basic needs such as food and clothes.
Red, the group’s director, said that non -profit groups such as the Aging Committee receives funds from the federal government to provide horseback riding to the grocery store, medical dates and free lunch at the center of the province’s senior, and can add in theory to the local social security office, the group’s director.
But the transportation grant funds are not already sufficient to meet the need. Last year, Reed ran out of money during the last three months of the fiscal year and had to decline in the committee’s savings. This year, he said he would not be able to do so.
Then, last Friday, he discovered that the committee lost a grant of nearly a million dollars to expect it again due to the reduction in the costs of the federal government.
He had planned to use funds to rebuild a boycott of the boycott, a dual trailer in the era in the eighties with limited seats.
“Once the money disappears, as you know, the money has gone,” he said.
A wave of new rules, it is difficult for the elderly to follow
The elderly meet at the center every day of the week for lunch. Usually, they may play Bango or cards. On this day, due to the presence of a correspondent from the Associated Press, the conversation turned into politics.
Many of Trump supporters. Each province in West Virginia has supported Trump in three presidential elections.
However, everyone agreed that the recent wave of executive orders was difficult to follow, especially since thenThe last local newspaper in the province closed,They were not sure of their influence on their lives.
“I don’t understand a lot of things that happen now, and I can’t determine things together,” said Brenda Hughes, 72, who said she usually goes to the Social Security Office personally. “But perhaps it is supposed to be like this.”
Marie Wayer, 72, said that she does not agree with Trump, giving Elon Musk a lot of space to cut and change services, and does not see those measures that help McDawell province.
“He went to the presidency, and he will receive the presidency, but he will allow another person to tell him how to manage the country?” I asked, I criticized Trump’s relationship with musk.
The other residents are not worried. Barbara Leicester, 64, said she hopes to sit with Trump and musk and tell them that they are doing a great job.
“With all the money they provide from this fraud, they can bear the costs of giving the elderly an increase,” said Leicester, who retired from construction work.
But for Taylor, who depends on horseback riding from the old age committee, the changes in social security may be just something else that will be difficult.
There are already many places you want to go to and cannot reach. None of her grandchildren live near, and her daughter lives in Ronok, Virginia, and her 39 -year -old son, who lived in the Walsh area near her. Walking from her home to the Social Security Office is six miles.
She said: “If I ask people more than twice to take me somewhere, this is like begging. I am not pleading with no one to do anything for me.” “I am independent like that. I am not pleading with no one for nothing.”
This story was originally shown on Fortune.com
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