New Rule Modernizes How We Award Disability Benefits
Reading Time: 1 MinuteLast Updated: February 24, 2020
The Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs protect some of the most vulnerable people in our society. A successful disability program must evolve and support making the right decision as early in the process as possible. To help us do that, we must modernize the rules and standards we use to evaluate how we determine disability benefits. We are moving forward with a rule change that has been in the works for a number of years and serves to update a more than 40-year-old policy that made the inability to communicate in English a factor in awarding disability benefits. The new rule is effective April 27, 2020.
We are required to consider education to determine if your medical condition prevents work. In 2015, our Inspector General recommended that we evaluate the appropriateness of this policy. Research now shows the inability to communicate in English is no longer a good measure of a person’s education level or the ability to engage in work. The new rule also supports the Administration’s longstanding focus of recognizing that individuals with disabilities can remain in the workforce.
To make the right disability decisions, Social Security disability rules must continue to reflect current medicine and evolution of work. We need to update our rules to keep up with society’s changes.
We owe it to the American public to ensure that our disability programs continue to reflect the realities of the modern workplace. Please share this information with your family and friends.
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About the Author
Andrew Saul, Commissioner, Social Security Administration
Commissioner of Social Security Administration (June 17, 2019 - July 9, 2021)
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Tina M.
I just recently filed my 2018 and 2019 taxas I re files my 2018 cause they wouldn’t give me my refund untill I proved I was me well I got sick and ended up not getting the info they needed so I needed to amend them anyways cause my sister did them wrong anyways so I had to nail both of them in and now it’s been 6 weeks and when u look at where’s my refund it says my information doesn’t match their records and I have the copies of what I sent I. Front of me so how can that be but I also see it’s not just me that it happens to so I haven’t received neither of my tax refunds or the stimulus check plus I have been out of work since Sept due to a major brain. Tumour making me very sick and having to have it removed plus it cause my fluid to leak onto my brain so I had to have a drain drilled to my head to get the fluid out and brain surgery is no joke it’s been 4 months and I still can’t walk right or stay up for very long without getting really sick and dizzy and I filed for SSI in October and sti haven’t got approved yet so I have been without no money whatso ever for 8 months I wish something would please come through I need help please
Glenda O.
I did not recieve my stimulus payment either. I cannot enter my information to find anything out as the site states my input information is wrong. Now come on I know who I am and my SS number as well as other pertinent info. Not only that but I began working at age 13 yrs. and my health became such a problem due to falls frequently making me a liability for gainful employment. I have interstitial cystitis, erosive gastritis, irritable bowel, asthma, multiple allergies, sleep apnea, myoclonus dystonia, early onset Parkinson’s disease and due to these lost my career at age 51. I collected my unemployment for 9 months or so until my Social Security was approved and out of my retroactive payment you took money from me to pay back unemployment that I paid into most of my life. Now you are evaluating me to go back to work. What part of Parkinson’s does Social Security feel goes away over time. I would have to be retrained and educated to work another field and due to frontal lobe damage have serious difficulties retaining new learned knowledge. I too cannot file for unemployment, get no food stamps or housing help. This is ridiculous. Your new laws state that whether or not one can speak english should not be a decisive factor in determining disability. If that is true then while Social Security is pushing disabled citizens out to work what is being done to make “all the immigrants “ who are here, capable of working, who collect payments of $795 and upward simply to go to school in my country go out and obtain work instead of taking away monies citizens paid into all their lives. There is a serious injustice toward citizens in the US and their disabled children, the elderly and veterans. I also want to add that some representatives actually divert and delay approval of cases by withholding from adjudication decisions medical information that proves their disability and would therefore allow payments to many needy people. This statement is not a trumped up allegation but facts I have lived through and experienced and witnessesed at my local Social Security Office. Under handed actions aren’t just happening at the Capitol building in Washington DC. Had I not had my little ticket stamped and signed upon leaving the Social Security Office after dropping off my medical records and getting the contact information for the adjudicator making decision on my case and calling him I would not have known that my records were purposely withheld to prevent my approval. And now I cannot get my stimulus payment or information about it. This situation, the way things are run and done as well as the disregard of this country’s citizens is absolutely ridiculous and the citizens of this country are fed up with it. Who carries the weight of this country on their backs, sweat and tears? Who keeps this country running and pays all elected officials salaries ( with the exception of President Trump who takes no pay from the tax payers ) ?? The citizens, that’s who !!! And all that is being done is to patronize us, shut us up, keep us in the dark, disregard our suffering and continue to act and treat us like the morons you think we are who don’t have enough common sense to even run our own lives. Maybe only giving “ some citizens “ stimulus payments was just a ploy to control the public but not everyone is fooled by this tactic. You may not send me a stimulus payment, you may continue to try to push me off my disability payments to keep immigrant students collecting payments but you cannot stop me from divulging the truth about the Social Security administration to the citizens who have the right to know what happens behind the scenes with their cases and where their payments into the system goes.
James K.
My question is a simple but complicated situation.
I’m a Combat Veteran who served during Vietnam and the Gulf War of 1990-1991. When I retired from the military and started working on the outside I never knew anything about the Department of Veterans Affairs let alone the Social Security Administration.
When I retired from my civilian employment in 2010. I knew I just couldn’t go back to work. I enjoyed my job with the County for it was a challenge to help others in need. Especially Veterans and their families. But my disabilities just got worse. I filed for SSA when I turned 62 2015. I’ve been ineligible for any job, job training what so ever. In 2013 the VA reviewed my case and increased my disabilities to 90% TDIU and backed dated my award to the day after I had retired from the County. Now that I’m 66 and in another couple of months I will be 67.
Here’s my question: I’ve been diagnosed with sleep apnea, PVC, diabetes, Cognitive problems, eye cornea issues, high blood pressure and others since 2015.
Am I eligible for SSDIi or not? It’s just a yes or no answer.
Respectfully yours,
Marine Corps Veteran
Vonda V.
Hi James, thank you for using our blog and thank you for your service! Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payments are made to people who become disabled prior to reaching their full retirement age. Once a person reaches their full retirement age, we automatically convert their disability benefits to retirement benefits, but the amount remains the same. We hope this helps!
Bonnie L.
I am the same still have not recieved payments on disability and the stupid websites they send you to doesnt even accept my ss# maybe they also gave that to a rich person or immigrant!
Robert T.
I am a SSDI recipient also and I haven’t received my check either. The government system is so messed up. I paid in taxes for over 30 years I’m so disgusted.
Sylvia E.
why is it so hard for black people to get on disabilty or get food stamps while these young girl lay up and have all these babies and no daddies get all the help they need and never work a day in their life i am mad as hell when will thing really change for the better for us
Tangie h.
My sister received her check an she my payee an I never received anything on my direct Express card I’m pissed ?
Marylain H.
I myself is disabled since 2007, and still haven’t received my check, while everyone else has, my husband is a veteran and hasn’t received his either, so what is up with that, don’t we count!!
TS
Why are SSDI applicants being ignored, limited to no assistance, all services halted while we are some of the most high risk individuals, Yet prisoners, immigrants, recently unemployed, small businesses, colleges etc are all getting assistance or processes waived yet our hands are tied since we can not seek employment due to health and can’t apply for unemployment benefits yet my analyst said she has no information, our applications are in limbo due to Covid-19 yet as I suffer from multiple approved illnesses and tax payer for 30+ years there is no assistance for us, PLEASE HELP.
(American w Disabilities Act Title ll Sec 12132 what about this?)
Thank you
April L.
Dear TS I myself feel the same way about the same situation and going through the same thing I myself have a disability and myself I am also being ignored. I am sick 9f the government putting ppl like us on the back burner. It’s like we r nobody to them and the rich and immigrants getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The government don’t care about people like us or people with disabilities that working-class ppl
and immigrants get Richer. And they them their selves get the stimulus check before people like us do and that’s not right. I still haven’t received my stimulus check neither has my mom or my stepdad and he’s fought in Vietnam.
Michelle B.
I receive ssdi and was claimed as dependent, my husband did not receive money for me and I am not getting a stimulus because was claimed ? That so not far when SSI a form of welfare gets it ,federal government already takes care of them …seriously messed up