Proposed Social Security Changes?

Want an easy way to advocate?

Tell Congress NO to the proposed changes in social security that can negatively impact individuals with disabilities!

Comments are open until January 31st, 2020!

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is proposing a change to social security. It plans to revise rules about how often it performs audits of disability status, called “continuing disability reviews” (CDR). The CDRs determines if individuals who currently receive SSI/SSDI should continue to receive those benefits. The proposed changes also add another category, “likely to improve” which is between the existing categories, “expected to improve” and “possible to improve.” This proposed change will move large amounts of individuals with disabilities from “possible to improve” to “likely to improve.” This move will result in more frequent audits, during which people who already receive social security disability benefits, will have to prove they have a disability., This will increase the burden on individuals with disabilities and their quality of life by affecting their stress, financial security, fear of maintaining their own support, and more. This is an unnecessary distraction from the already difficult experience of living with a disability. We would like your help to fight this unnecessary proposal by asking you to submit comments. We have provided you with template, which you may edit as you would like and maybe adding from your personal experience as a person with a disability, caregiver, or occupational therapist or other rehabilitation professional. In writing your own comments it would be beneficial to state why this change is important to you and how the proposed changes can affect you personally, professionally, or morally. You may then copy and paste your comments into the portal at the link below:

[You may want to start by explaining why this is important to you or your connection to the subject such as “I am currently an occupational therapist, occupational therapy student, caregiver and/or someone who identifies with a disability.] These changes are important to me because they can affect the people I work with as well as myself in the future, leading to an unnecessary burden for individuals with disability. The proposed cuts to Social Security and the expansion of an additional new category to “continuing disability reviews” or CDR is an attack on individuals with disability and retired older adults who may not have the means to hire a lawyer. The creation of a new CDR category “likely to improve,” occurring every two years, mirrors an already existing category “possible to improve.” This will add roughly 2.6 million more audits, costing the government more money, as opposed to claims that is will save money.

For individuals with disabilities, there is a lack of resources and opportunity for legal representation throughout the CDR process. Without legal council, navigating the ins and outs of CDR can be extremely difficult. With an increase in CDRs, the likelihood of individuals with disabilities losing their needed SSDI/SSI will increase, due to the lack of legal representation and the confusion of ensuring the CDR process is done correctly and legally.

Adding this new change, after the 2017 change that allows Social Security to disregard medical evidence from beneficiary’s doctors, puts people with disabilities at a severe disadvantage to have to prove they still quality for social security. This will likely increase the number of individuals with disabilities who no longer receive the support they need, History reminds us that when the government adds regulations that cuts people with disabilities from the social security roles, as happened under President Reagan, people suffer and die.

For more information you can click this link to a news article by Anita Wadhwani at the Nashville Tennessean:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2019/12/27/social-security-disability-benefits-program-change-questions-answers/2756301001/