By: Marie Bordelon, Elder Law & Disability Law Clinic Student, Spring 2024
Individuals with disabilities heavily rely on assistance from the government to afford daily necessities and necessary medical expenses. However, longstanding government policies have made receiving benefits a hassle due to extensive waiting times for not only initial approval, but mandated waiting times before benefits can be received. These extensive wait times should be eliminated to ensure that individuals entitled to assistance are able to retrieve it.
The We Can’t Wait Act[i] seeks to amend the Social Security Act to allow disabled individuals to receive disability insurance benefits during the benefit waiting period.[ii] Individuals would also be allowed to immediately enroll in Medicare instead of waiting 24 months to become Medicare eligible.[iii] The proposal was introduced to the Senate on December 5, 2023, and conferred to the Senate Committee on Finance, but no movement has been made since.[iv]
The Social Security Act currently requires that an individual wait five months to receive disability insurance benefits after the onset of disability.[v] This waiting period is on top of the application and initial approval waiting period. People applying for benefits in 2024 wait seven months for an initial decision due to the millions of initial applications waiting review.[vi] The Government Accountability Office released a report detailing that 110,000 people have died while awaiting a decision on their eligibility and 50,000 have filed for bankruptcy.[vii]
The five-month benefit waiting period was established to ensure that individuals actually do have long-term disabilities.[viii] While in theory, this may be an effective measure to reduce fraud in the benefit process, the effect the waiting period has on people with disabilities is detrimental. An individual with disabilities accrues many expenses per month for care and medical needs. The Social Security Act requiring that individuals wait months to begin receiving payment for these expenses puts a large financial strain on the individuals who the Act was specifically created to help. The waiting period may also prompt individuals to delay seeking treatment, which can be detrimental.[ix]
While the five-month waiting period is a long-standing requirement, it is not unheard of that it be eliminated.[x] In 2020, Congress removed the waiting period for people with ALS.[xi] If the waiting period can be waived for one group of individuals, it should be waived for all people who qualify for disability benefits. It is not logical to purport that one group deserves to receive benefits quicker while the others must wait and accrue expenses that they must pay on their own. The justifications for waiving the waiting period for individuals with ALS presumably can be extended to all individuals waiting for benefits, which should make arguments for removing the waiting period for all easier.
The We Can’t Wait Act seems to have bipartisan support[xii], it’s lack of movement is of concern and should prompt Congressmen to place more importance on seeing that the bill be passed within this session to ensure that individuals with disabilities are not forced to continue on without the benefits that they are entitled to.
[i] S.3400, 118th Cong. (2023), https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/3400/text
[ii] Id.
[iii] Id.
[iv] Id.
[v] W. Christopher Freiberg, Senate Considers We Can’t Wait Act, Helping People with Disabilities Nationwide (Dec. 12, 2023), https://www.midwestdisability.com/blog/2023/12/senate-considers-we-cant-wait-act/.
[vi] Kimberly A, Slimbaugh, Social Security Disability Law in 2024: Hot Topics and Possible Legislative Updates, MCV Law (Jan. 12, 2024, 4:24 PM), https://mcvlaw.com/blog/social-security-disability-law-in-2024-hot-topics-and-possible-legislative-updates/.
[vii] We Can’t Wait Home Page, https://wecantwaitcoalition.org/ (last visited Feb. 25, 2024)
[viii] Kimberly A, Slimbaugh, Social Security Disability Law in 2024: Hot Topics and Possible Legislative Updates, MCV Law (Jan. 12, 2024, 4:24 PM), https://mcvlaw.com/blog/social-security-disability-law-in-2024-hot-topics-and-possible-legislative-updates/.
[ix] We Can’t Wait Home Page, https://wecantwaitcoalition.org/ (last visited Feb. 25, 2024)
[x] Id.
[xi] Id.
[xii] W. Christopher Freiberg, Senate Considers We Can’t Wait Act, Helping People with Disabilities Nationwide (Dec. 12, 2023), https://mcvlaw.com/blog/social-security-disability-law-in-2024-hot-topics-and-possible-legislative-updates/.