H.R. 1502 and Your Disability Benefits

Bob, 55 years old, has severe arthritis. He has been working the same job as a machinist for the last 20 years. Due to the economy, Bob is laid off from his job. Since he is still in need of income to care for himself and his wife, Judy, he applies for unemployment benefits while he looks for other work. 

As the months go by, and Bob finds his arthritis seems to be getting worse. He has a harder time getting around and doing simple things like opening jars. After a visit with his doctor, the doctor tells Bob that perhaps he should consider filing for disability. Bob’s doctor is concerned that he would have a hard time going back to work as a machinist.

This puts Bob in an unusual situation. Bob wants to go back to work, but no one is calling him in response to his job applications, and his doctor warns if he goes back to strenuous work such as a machinist he may not be able to perform like he used to.

So, what is Bob supposed to do?

Fortunately, Bob can apply for disability while he is receiving his unemployment benefits and still seeking work. However, Congress might be putting and end to this option soon.

The purpose of H.R. 1502 is “to amend title II of the Social Security Act to prevent the concurrent receipt of unemployment benefits and Social Security disability insurance, and for other purposes.” Also known as the “Double Dip Elimination Act,” should this bill become law, it will prevent people like Bob from collecting disability benefits for any month in which he was receiving unemployment.  

Those months in which a person is collecting unemployment would be considered the same as engaging in substantial gainful activity (SGA), a term used by SSA to describe a certain monthly amount earned by working. The current SGA amount for non-blind individuals is $1,040.00. 

This basically means that people like Bob may have to choose either one route (collecting unemployment and seeking work) or the other (seeking disability). If someone in Bob’s position does collect unemployment while seeking disability, any months in which unemployment was received will disqualify him from any disability benefits he may be entitled to for those months. 

This is particularly disheartening when you take into consideration the amount of past-due medical bills most disability claimants are faced with. Many awarded-claimants rely on their back-benefits to catch up on these bills, as well as the mortgage, credit card bills and auto loans.

A memorandum released by the Social Security Administration to Regional Chief Judges on November 15^th, 2006, references Supreme Court case Cleveland v. Policy Management Systems Corp and states:

 “The Court noted that, under the presumptions embodied in our five-step sequential evaluation process, a person can qualify for Social Security disability benefits even though he or she remains capable of performing some work. Similar logic applies to applications for unemployment benefits.

“In addition, it is often uncertain whether we will find a person who applies for unemployment benefits ultimately to be disabled under our rules, and our decision-making process can be quite lengthy. Therefore, it is SSA’s position that individuals need not choose between applying for unemployment insurance and Social Security disability benefits.”

While it can be argued that collecting unemployment benefits while telling the government you can’t work is contradictory, there are exceptions to the rule, such as in Bob’s case.

The ultimate purpose of H.R. 1502, according to Representative Johnson, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, is to save our country $1 billion over the course of ten years. This may be the case, but at what cost to the individual benefit claimant? We still have a chance to tell Congress what we think of this bill. Write to your Congressman today and voice your opinion on H.R. 1502 before it is voted into law.

Written by Anna Westfall

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