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)

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Comments

  1. Canerday

    I’ve been turned down 4 times. The last time was a month ago. I received a letter stating I needed to seek immediate medical attention due to something that was found by the disability doctor. Then 7 days later I got a denial letter saying I didn’t qualify for disability. The current disability rules are a joke. I’m sure this is due to the current administration gutting the budget to pay for golf.

  2. Thomas G.

    Does this mean “inability to communicate in English” because of a speech disability, or because the person speaks a language other than English? If the former, the claim that it is “no longer a good measure of …the person’s ability to engage in work” is simply not true for many kinds of work. If the latter, it has nothing to do with medicine, and is purely political.

  3. Luzviminda L.

    Hi, I don’t understand the new rule.Was there a rule that you can apply for disability if you can’t find employment because you can’t speak English? Seriously? I need clarification.
    In most places now, you need to learn Their language instead of them learning ours.

  4. Reynaldo C.

    I am 67yrs old. Had a stroke in 2012 witch took a part of my liver. I tried to go back to work only to find out that I get tired very easily. And after 6 hernia operations I cannot lift over 20lbs. I am on meds that make me feel very weak and sleep over 12 hrs a day.

    • Wendell

      So, you’re now on regular retirement social security. Any rule changes won’t affect you at all. The monthly amount doesn’t change when you hit retirement age unless you switch from SSDI to SS retirement before your full retirement age

  5. Bridget C.

    What needs to change is the earnings cap for SSI eligibility. No one should have to worry about loosing benefits if they marry, unless their spouse makes an extremely high wage. Especially since it takes 2 incomes to survive and SSI is hardly anything.

    • Stacey m.

      My husband is disabled he can’t work he has lot of health problems and has seizures and can’t drive nomore he 43 fixing be 44 in October

  6. Tonya

    I feel if you live in thIs country you should speak English. People who move to our country should learn our language to be able to communicate to secure employment.

  7. Susan S.

    I worked a lot of my life I I quit working to take care of my husband and then I got sick and then I applied for Social Security disability and I got denied because there wasn’t enough work credits so I’m told I have to work another seven and a half more years and I have COPD and I can’t work have someone look into that please

  8. Valerie F.

    I have long thought changes should be made to the SGA rules, and base it on hours rather than dollars. For someone on disability who worked lower-wage jobs, they would be permitted to work over 30 hours a week and still be below the SGA amount. However, someone with a higher-paying career might only be able to work a handful of hours to still be considered disabled. So lower-paid people could theoretically end up earning more while on disability than they did during their working life, while someone earning a higher wage is left with having to live with a much lower standard of living.

  9. Curtis A.

    This new rule is ruining it for those on disability benefits. Why would u do that it is so demeaning to those that absolutely need it 100%. Some bs really that rule is

  10. Norine

    If you get disability and you want to work even two days a week they make it Impossible. I had my disability I had my job. Then they started sending me my deceased husband’s check. Then with me working they started taking out the Medicare part B. Then at the end of the year they requested I pay out of pocket a thousand a month for my prescriptions.

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