TITLE: Urging Congress to waive the Social Security Disability Insurance five-month waiting period for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

SUMMARY: Urging Congress to waive the Social Security Disability Insurance five-month waiting period for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

FULL TEXT:
WHEREAS, Social Security Disability Insurance provides critical benefits to people disabled by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, but federal law currently imposes a five-month waiting period before qualified patients can receive both SSDI and Medicare, regardless of the degree of disability or how quickly the Social Security Administration approves a claim; and WHEREAS, Each year, more than 6,000 Americans are diagnosed with ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord; military veterans, particularly those deployed in the Gulf War, are approximately twice as likely as others to develop ALS; and WHEREAS, ALS eventually robs its victims of the ability to initiate and control muscle movement, leading to complete paralysis and death; average life expectancy is just three years, and nearly half of all patients die within 16 months of diagnosis; and WHEREAS, The five-month SSDI waiting period was originally established to allow time for temporary conditions to reverse; ALS, however, is always disabling and inevitably fatal; Congress has already acknowledged the unique nature of ALS and its rapid progression by waiving the standard 24-month waiting period for Medicare benefits, and the Social Security Administration has implemented a number of policies to expedite the review of claims by ALS patients for SSDI and Supplemental Security Income benefits; and WHEREAS, ALS is swift, cruel, and unrelenting, and it is vital that those afflicted by this disease have access as quickly as possible to the health and disability benefits they have earned; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas, 1st Called Session, hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to waive the Social Security Disability Insurance five-month waiting period for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; and, be it further RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.