I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2895
To amend the Social Security Act to provide for timely review of disability
claims and to provide for presumed disability in cases of delayed disposi-
tion of such claims.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 5, 1993
Mr. NEAL of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend the Social Security Act to provide for timely
review of disability claims and to provide for presumed
disability in cases of delayed disposition of such claims.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Social Security Disabil-
ity Review Standards Act of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT OF FACE-TO-FACE MEETING IN DIS-
ABILITY DETERMINATIONS.
Section 221(h) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
421(h)) is amended—
(1) by redesignating such subsection as sub-
section (h)(2); and
(2) by adding at the beginning of such sub-
section the following new paragraph:
‘‘(h)(1) Any initial determination under subsection
(a) or (g) that an individual applying for benefits under
this title is not under a disability shall be made only after
such individual has been provided a reasonable oppor-
tunity for a face-to-face meeting with a disability examiner
who is authorized under this section to make disability de-
terminations pursuant to such individual’s application.’’.
SEC. 3. STANDARDS FOR TIMELY REVIEW OF DISABILITY
CLAIMS.
Section 221(k) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
421(k)) is amended by adding at the end the following
new paragraph:
‘‘(3) The Secretary shall take such actions as are nec-
essary to ensure that, to the maximum extent prac-
ticable—
‘‘(A) an initial determination of whether an in-
dividual who has applied for disability insurance
benefits under section 223 or benefits under section
202 based on such individual’s disability is under a
disability shall be made not later than 30 days after
the date on which such application is filed,
‘‘(B) in any case in which, pursuant to the ap-
plication, an initial determination is made that the
individual is not under a disability and the individual
does not fail to timely request reconsideration of
such determination, a determination on reconsider-
ation of whether the individual is under a disability
shall be made not later than 90 days after the date
on which such application is filed, and
‘‘(C) in any case in which, on reconsideration,
a determination is made that the individual is not
under a disability and the individual does not fail to
timely request a hearing under subsection (d) on
such determination, a determination of whether the
individual is under a disability shall be made pursu-
ant to such a hearing not later than 150 days after
the date on which such application is filed.’’.
SEC. 4. PRESUMED DISABILITY IN ABSENCE OF TIMELY
DISABILITY DETERMINATIONS.
(a) PRESUMED DISABILITY UNDER TITLE II OF THE
SOCIAL SECURITY ACT.—Section 221 of the Social Secu-
rity Act (42 U.S.C. 421) is amended by adding at the end
the following new subsection:
‘‘Presumptive Disability
‘‘(m)(1) In any case in which—
ments for purposes of section 204 solely because such indi-
vidual is determined not to be under a disability.’’.
(b) PRESUMED BLINDNESS OR DISABILITY UNDER
TITLE XVI OF
THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT.—Section
1631(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1383(a)) is amended by
adding at the end the following new paragraph:
‘‘(10)(A) In any case in which—
‘‘(i) an individual applying for benefits under
this title meets the requirements for entitlement to
such benefits other than the requirement that the in-
dividual be blind or disabled,
‘‘(ii) as of 150 days after the date on which the
individual filed the application for such benefits, a
final determination of whether the individual is blind
or disabled has not been made, and
‘‘(iii) the individual has taken such actions as
are necessary to preserve such individual’s rights to
administrative review under this section,
such individual shall be presumed to be blind or disabled
for each month during the period of months beginning
with the first month after the expiration of such 150-day
period and ending with the month in which action is taken
to implement a final determination of whether the individ-
ual is blind or disabled.’’.
SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE; STUDY OF STAFF NEEDS.
(a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this Act shall apply with respect to applications for bene-
fits under title II or XVI of the Social Security Act filed
after 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(b) STUDY OF STAFF NEEDS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary
of Health and Human Services shall conduct a study
of any additional staff needs required to implement
the amendments made by this Act.
(2) REPORT.—Not later than 30 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
Health and Human Services shall submit to the
Committee on Ways and Means of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Finance of
the Senate the results of the study conducted under
paragraph (1), together with any recommendations
which the Secretary finds appropriate.
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