The Social Security Administration has issued a new Ruling on Duration Requirements for Disability. At first glance I see little, if anything, new in this.
One thing I really don't like about this is that it perpetuates the existing problem with situations where you need to combine two impairments to make up the one year duration requirement. As an example, a claimant is in chemotherapy for lung cancer and having a hard time of it for eight months. Before the chemo ends, the claimant is in an automobile accident and suffers a bad femur fracture that takes six months to heal. The claimant is out of work for more than a year due to the health problems but Social Security has examined the definition of disability with a microscope to find some tortured argument for denying such claims. Each disability must itself last at least a year. This only comes up rarely and usually when it does the decision makers involved are unaware of agency policy. Still, it's unnecessary and cruel.
5 comments:
Requiring the death to be expected to occur within 12 months is a notable change. SSR 82-52 (which this rescinds and replaces) and 20 C. F. R. § 404.1509 don't say that, and 42 U. S. C. § 423(d)(1) does not define disability as death within 12 months, it's just expected to result in death.
I suppose that's always been a grey area, but not seeing how this won't be challenged in Court in extremely sympathetic cases.
I wouldn’t worry about this. None of the actual decision makers, from the DDS offices through to the ALJs, AC and OGC, actually knows the law or has time to learn it and apply it correctly.
11:52 here...so I just realized, if the impairment is expected to last 12 months or more and result in death, it's a moot point as then it's expected to last 12 months or more. So it's a notable change I suppose, but of no real consequence.
if you don't like the anti-piggy-back rule, Congress can change it.
I can't wait to see if this will be interpreted as "any impairment not resulting in disability or death under our standard doesn't get to step 2 severity, which means unless we find you disabled, you don't have any impairments we consider to be severe at step 2."
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