Disability

New Rule Modernizes How We Award Disability Benefits

February 24, 2020 • By

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Last Updated: February 24, 2020

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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)

Comments

  1. Aniket P.

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  2. loretta s.

    Do you update Disability when they are already on Disability?

  3. Ellen K.

    HAS THE GOVERNMENT ENLISTED PRIVATE CONTRACTORS TO FILE DISABILITY FOR PEOPLE? IF SO IS THERE A FEE FOR THIS. IS DISABILITY COMING FROM WHAT YOU HAVE EARNED OR DOES IT ALSO GO BY WHAT YOUR SPOUSE IS MAKING?

  4. onlinehefaz

    onlinehefaz
    thanks

  5. CEDRIC l.

    Hello how are u doing, My name is Cedric BROWN Jr. And I was receiving disability for my leg and I also have pdst and glaccoma. I was shot in 2009 and I have a rod and 5 screws in my leg also, my benefits have been terminated because I missed my appeal hearing do to the social security administration sent my mail to the wrong address and that wasn’t my fault that I missed the hearing I really need my benefits to be approved because I was already approved due to they mistake I can’t make my to survive without my benefits and my Medicaid to get the proper EYE drops that I need for my medical condition.

    • Vonda V.

      Hi Cedric. For your security, we do not have access to private information in this venue. We ask that members in our Blog community work with our offices with specific questions. You can call us at 1-800-772-1213 for assistance or you can contact your local Social Security office. Please look for the general inquiry telephone number at the Social Security Office Locator. The number may appear under Show Additional Office Information. Please be aware that our call wait times are longer than normal. We hope this information helps.

    • Tamra R.

      My friend lost her arm 15 years ago and a breast from maybe a spider bite she is messed up from this but don’t think she is and is afraid to file for disability .afraid she won’t get it and it’s her last hope now .is there a form she should get or I could get for her to help start the process

  6. April

    I’m 34 single I have 3 boys I only receive$783 for all 4 of us no child support no nothing I’ve recently lost my children and I am home less is there anything ssi can do to help me

    • Vonda V.

      Thank you for using our blog, April. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) gives cash assistance to people with limited income and resources who are age 65 or older, blind or disabled. Children with disabilities can get SSI, too. To find out who qualifies and how to apply, go to the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Benefits web page.

  7. Manda

    The process to obtain social security disability is long and degrading. I am a 40 year old female who has lived with severe grade 4 spondylolisthesis since I was 18 years old. As I have aged I now have spondyloptosis, severe degenerative disc disease, narrowing of my caudia equadia, bone spurs, osteoporosis. While still having severe grade 4 spondylolisthesis. I am in need of a stabilization surgery for my L5/S1 region. I applied for disability in 2018 and went all the way up to a hearing with an ALJ judge, waited 3 more months just for a letter of denial. Although they did specify that my impairments are severe enough for disability they denied me because I worked in 2015. All the Drs and physicals and MRIs that were done we’re all for nothing. I am seeing a neurosurgeon for my surgery. I am very disappointed in the system. Those of us who actually have severe problems and can not work are being pushed to the side and told no we are not in that bad of shape and can find work somewhere. For most of us that is not true. If I could work any job at all I would. And have tried. Believe me I would rather work than be treated like a degenerative because these people who get to call the shots no nothing about severe disabilities. But get to tell us our pain isn’t bad enough to prevent us from working. My spine is holding on by an 1/8 of an inch, if I trip and fall it separates completely. But I don’t qualify. This whole system is a joke. I personally know people who are addicted to pain killers because of a small neck injury who were approved for disability within 3 months and they ride their motorcycle and work like it’s nothing. This system is corrupt and unfair. Now I have to take this to an appeal council which could take another year. This is not right, not right for me and not right for everyone else who is going through this bull crap system. Fix it.

  8. Mark P.

    We are in the middle of a pandemic! I was homeless in March when it first started…I was finally approved for SSI benefits and was desperate to get off the streets before things got worse. Finally after 2 months of trying to find a place that would accept me with no prior rental background in the required time frame, bad credit etc…I finally found a landlord with some compassion…sort of the rent was 900 a month, my SSI was 950 so it has been a struggle. According to the rules I have to report this information to SSA. I did and they reduced my benefits to 863 a month and now I cannot afford the apt anymore…I don’t know what to do but go back on the streets with the pandemic.

    • Ann C.

      Hi, Mark. We are sorry to hear about your situation. You may be eligible to receive social services from the state in which you live. These services include Medicaid, free meals, housekeeping help, transportation or help with other problems. You can get information about services in your area from your state or local social services or welfare office. We hope this helps!

    • Tee

      You need to get a van or motor home. You can find help on homes on wheels alliance. And check cheaprvliving.com

  9. Doreen G.

    I have honestly very disabled after a Pitbull attack & mauling .
    I’d just sent myself to school twice – I had a cleaning service and was bettering myself .
    I’ve worked since 14 – 46 non stop then a single mom 15 yrs but had never married .
    My point I was done DI wring by a federal Judge non stop lies , choosing only what she wanted to show if even it was one good day and a year anyway supreme court and back still her games after 10 years I finally got it by now I have 1 foot in the grave no joke as hard as I try then to get a minimum of eight letters from her 50 pages easy appears taking away saying I made $28,000 last year or the year before which nowSent all my lighters two very old addresses and telling me so and then sending a letter to the address they knew was mine it had been for years always got my mail from them anyway now that I have put in my appeal and told them myself this was in just an unethical and wrong what’s been done to me I put in for money to be able to finally after 10 years to have a place to live of my own and I had never been able to live for just Free I owed Sun all my ladders to very old addresses and telling me so and then sending a letter to the address they knew was mine it had been for years always got my mail from them anyway now that I have put in my appeal and told them myself this was in just an unethical and wrong what’s been done to me I put in for money to be able to finally after 10 years to have a place to live of my own and I had never been able to live for just free I owed people My friends who help me buy I borrowed and I paid them back but yeah that’s taken out of me also it’s taken out of me that someone else fat me and that’s not true for a minute yes they are other people where I stayed actually cooked my soup on the stove and gave it back to me for one week while I was very very sick and very malnourished yet Social Security has down that someone fed me Literally and with their money when that’s never happened to me in my life the more honest I am the more the system hurts me I finally get my disability certainly I knew I would and I knew it was only to drag me beyond the five-year mark to lose my work history completely it’s not about the backpay they were out of me it’s only about principal and the truth of the matter the doctor that she flew in Got off you too he could not even think commented on the wrong things that he had no business commenting on but anyway he said 2012 I was disabled and the other half of it out it was 2017 as everything else the judge took what she wanted some sand 2017 at least does she needed a doctor but she throws it to thousand to 20,012 she threw out when he said the other part of her disability 2017 she kept that because at least it was only a few years change my address Which changed my insurance without my knowledge and changed all my doctors without my knowledge so I did not know until it was time to see the doctor a very serious important visit and I was turned down does happened many times they say it’s not their fault I already called after you say and every other site soon as I went to the Social Security office locally in Pembroke Pines soon as I walked out it was fixed. I have put in Even a ladder in Saint Glenmary and it was for money to move on and for medicine for doctors because they left me in such a mess by doing what they did to me on purpose that could’ve taken my life and it seems that that’s what they want.
    I never even got acknowledgment that they even received the letter and made any decision and I was told that you could buy an automobile or a house that you could use your back pay now towards that I applied in the office I have the confirmation page letter and they say they never got it the local office always says they didn’t get it they got my appeal in November but yes they told me they didn’t get it in January they were saying we never got it we never got it.
    I have had 20/208,000 $ taken away from me saying I work at 10,000 a month for a few months my Social Security number does not work to get in I R ass or SSA.gov nor can you get anyone on the phone and then they tell you can but can’t those two are linked together I did not get a stimulus check I just keep backing for just my backpay and to look in to what they’re taking away for me $28,000 is a lot of money And I certainly could use it I do not know what to do anymore with the twisted situation they have me in and in mind my doctors and everyone’s opinion around me tells me this person is trying to kill you and they have about succeeded and that’s a real pity but no one knows what to do I have been in dire need for years I have suffered deeply and greatly and done the right things To help myself to try to find a place to live to be stable for the first time in 10 years after making sure I got three cans raised and very educated and doing well but to be blocked out of my own Social Security number not get a stimulus payment cannot get my backpay to have a place to live as I’m told it’s not meant to survival and they don’t want me to survive I’m not asking them for their money I’m asking for my money.
    Sure they say come to them when you find a place to live so that can give you the money or decide if they’ll give you the money I’ve been waiting since February I have not gotten an answer and then just was told within weeks ago they never got that ladder I have the confirmation page and this happens over everything but now Stimulus payment no help no social worker I can barely get Doctors out from them switching my address was changed my insurance which change my doctors and put me in Medical hell. I am an honest person trying to only get that back every time I call I get a different attitude and a different answer summer very good so I didn’t get a book of how to run the system already anything else like so many seem to have done I would like some helpI would like the truth and honesty this is about me being able to survive only was rightfully owed me at least give me that chance to live a real life for as long as I have left . I’ve waited all week for a phone call for Dyer need and did not get the phone call today was the last day now I call them and go through it again not knowing what kind of mood the next person will be in tomorrow I would just like a book something where I could know what I need to do for myself because I don’t feel good anymore I am unable to do these things anymore ask for nothing for free I don’t think I would take anything that was for
    I really need help here this was a voice text so I’m sure there are errors here but I just needed to get through to someone Because I can’t get beyond my Social Security number being frozen or something and no one to talk to me about why they’re taking $28,000 away why I can’t get money to find a place to live or put a down payment or buys a RV or something especially during a pandemic even if I die I will have the money that is backpay owed to me sent to my children so it’s not like anyone gets to keep the money if I die so why not give me the chance to live as it is I suffer so So bad on a daily basis alone trying to stay out of the riffraff not get robbed not get beaten up not have anything happen to me more that has already happened and I really need my service dog back so that’s another purchase this whole system has not been fair to me and I’m just saying fair as in the scales of justice fair that’s all I’m asking for and guidance they say a lot but they don’t know anything to give you to go on so please contactContact me maybe you can answer some of these questions by the time you if ever they decided that they would give you some of your backpay to be able to MoveOn well then they expect you to go find a place and get the paperwork fill it out and then take it up to them and then they decide if you can have it or not but by that time the apartment whatever you’re looking at is already gone by someone who didn’t have the money because when you go you need to have some money having to pay for my medicine and my vitamins special shoes different things that Medicare doesn’t pay for it they just called me all the time want me to pay for moreThank you please call me at 954-588-3850 I already get all the scams on texts phone calls that are scams trying to sell me something I just want to talk to a real person from Social Security to help me out please my name is Doreen Guilliams my number is 954-588-3850

    • Vonda V.

      Hi Doreen, thanks for using our blog. For your security, we do not have access to private information in this venue. We ask that members in our Blog community work with our offices with specific questions. You can call us at 1-800-772-1213 for assistance or you can contact your local Social Security office. Please look for the general inquiry telephone number at the Social Security Office Locator. The number may appear under Show Additional Office Information. Please be aware that our call wait times are longer than normal. We hope this information helps.

  10. Danny b.

    Disabled and willing to transission back to work the fed gov swoops in and gives 70 percent of my disability check to my ex spouse. Is she still eligible if i die. She is not disabled

    • Vonda V.

      Hi Danny, thank you for using our blog. If your marriage lasted 10 years or more and you pass away, she may be able to get benefits the same as a widow or widower. For more information, please visit our Surviving Divorced Spouse webpage.

Comments are closed.