Social Security Fairness for the Terminally Ill Act of 2009

Social Security Fairness for the Terminally Ill Act of 2009 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act to eliminate the waiting period for disability insurance benefits for terminally ill individuals.

[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.R. 1289 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1289

  To amend title II of the Social Security Act to eliminate the five-
month waiting period in the disability insurance program, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 3, 2009

Mr. Wilson of Ohio introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                    the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title II of the Social Security Act to eliminate the five-
month waiting period in the disability insurance program, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Social Security Fairness for the 
Terminally Ill Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF TITLE II WAITING PERIOD FOR TERMINALLY ILL 
              INDIVIDUALS.

    (a) In General.--Section 223(a)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 423(a)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
sentence: ``In the case of any application for disability insurance 
benefits filed by an individual who is determined to be under a 
disability and who has been certified as terminally ill by a physician 
(as defined in section 1861(r)(1)), this paragraph shall be applied 
without regard to any waiting period. For the purposes of the preceding 
sentence, an individual is considered to be terminally ill if the 
individual has a medical prognosis that the individual's life 
expectancy is 6 months or less.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall take 
effect with respect to applications filed after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
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