ALS Disability Insurance Access Act of 2019

ALS Disability Insurance Access Act of 2019

This bill eliminates the five-month waiting period for disability benefits under the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program for individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (a progressive neurodegenerative disease, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord). Under current law, individuals must wait five months after becoming disabled before their disability insurance benefit payments may begin.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1407 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1407

  To amend title II of the Social Security Act to eliminate the five-
month waiting period for disability insurance benefits for individuals 
               with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 27, 2019

   Mr. Moulton (for himself, Mr. King of New York, Mr. Abraham, Mr. 
    Aguilar, Mr. Bergman, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. 
  Blumenauer, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. Brownley of California, Mr. Carson of 
     Indiana, Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Case, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. 
Cicilline, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Collins of New York, 
 Mr. Rodney Davis of Illinois, Ms. Dean, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Delgado, Mr. 
Deutch, Mr. Emmer, Mr. Engel, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Foster, Ms. Gabbard, 
   Mr. Gallego, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Gonzalez of Texas, Mr. 
Grijalva, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Heck, Ms. Herrera Beutler, Mr. Holding, Ms. 
   Norton, Mr. Hurd of Texas, Mr. Katko, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. 
 Kilmer, Mr. Kim, Mr. Kind, Mr. King of Iowa, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Lawson 
     of Florida, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Ted Lieu of 
 California, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Lowenthal, Mrs. Luria, Mr. Sean Patrick 
   Maloney of New York, Ms. Matsui, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McGovern, Mr. 
 Meadows, Ms. Meng, Mr. O'Halleran, Ms. Omar, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Payne, 
 Mr. Peters, Mr. Peterson, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Price of North 
 Carolina, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Raskin, Miss Rice of New York, Mr. Schiff, 
   Mr. Schrader, Ms. Sewell of Alabama, Mr. Soto, Ms. Stefanik, Mr. 
Suozzi, Mr. Takano, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Tipton, Mr. Tonko, 
Mrs. Torres of California, Mr. Turner, Mr. Vela, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, 
Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. Wild, Mr. Womack, Mr. Yarmuth, Mr. Zeldin, and 
Mr. Pascrell) 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 for disability insurance benefits for individuals 
               with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

    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 ``ALS Disability Insurance Access Act 
of 2019''.

SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF WAITING PERIOD FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH AMYOTROPHIC 
              LATERAL SCLEROSIS (ALS).

    (a) In General.--Section 223 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
423) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), in the matter following 
                subparagraph (E), by striking ``or (ii)'' and inserting 
                ``(ii) in the case of an individual who has been 
                medically determined to have amyotrophic lateral 
                sclerosis (ALS), for each month beginning with the 
                first month during all of which the individual is under 
                a disability and in which the individual becomes 
                entitled to such insurance benefits, or (iii)''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (2)(B), by inserting ``or (iii)'' 
                after ``clause (ii)''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to applications for disability insurance benefits 
filed after the date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>