Summary#
This bill lets certain disabled workers choose to receive Social Security disability insurance (DI) payments during the normal waiting period before full DI starts. It adds a written election option, sets rules for when a person can make or revoke that election, and creates a formula to set the payment amount for those months. The bill also requires the Social Security Administration (SSA) to post information and a calculator and to update application forms.
What it means for you#
- If you are eligible for DI and have not reached early retirement age, you may elect in writing to get DI payments during the waiting period. Elections can be made at specific times (for example, when you file an application, when you request reconsideration or a hearing, or within set short windows after a decision). A representative payee may confirm or revoke the election in some cases.
- The monthly payment for the first month you become entitled will equal the DI benefit amount multiplied by a percentage. For the first 36-month period after the program start (which begins 180 days after enactment), that percentage is 94.25% for those months. After that period, the percentage is set by periodic actuarial calculations and certification described in the bill.
- Once set, the reduced monthly amount continues unchanged for the whole period of DI eligibility and is not subject to later recalculations. If you are owed past-due benefits, these payments may be included in that total.
- Elections or revocations cannot occur in the first month of an established period of eligibility. Elections do not change benefits payable to other people based on someone else’s earnings.
- SSA must update forms within 180 days after enactment and post public information and a calculator to show how an election would change a person’s benefit.
Expenses#
No publicly available information on total cost. The bill directs the SSA Chief Actuary to calculate a percentage so that, over a 75-year period, the fiscal impact on the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund would match the impact if no one elected to receive benefits during the waiting period. The Commissioner may certify that percentage if it is at least 91 percent. If the Commissioner declines to certify a percentage, the Chief Actuary must report to Congress within 2 years with recommendations for actions to seek actuarial neutrality.
Proponents' View#
No publicly available information.
Opponents' View#
No publicly available information.