The Social Security Administration (SSA) has changed the types of jobs that people must have in order to apply for disability benefits.
On Monday, June 24, the SSA said it would take off from a list of jobs that disabled people who are applying for Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance could do things that are not needed anymore or are not done very often.
These jobs included railroad telegrapher, reptile farmer, canary breeder, and others.
The Social Security Administration announced an important new change in disability benefits
The Dictionary of Occupational Titles‘ list of occupations is used to figure out if a person applying for disability benefits could find another job that would work with their skills.
If someone applies for benefits and is found to be “not disabled,” they may not get them. 114 jobs are being taken off the list as a whole. The Dictionary of Occupational Titles’ list of jobs is used to see if a person applying for benefits could get another job with their skills.
If not, they may not get benefits because they are not considered disabled. In total, 114 spots will be taken off the list because of this.
The government also named 13 DOT jobs where “federal courts have questioned supporting evidence of a ‘not disabled’ finding.” These jobs include nut sorter, dance hall host, and magnetic tape winder.
The list was made by the Department of Labor at first, but The Washington Post says it was put on hold decades ago when the economy moved away from blue-collar manufacturing. In spite of this, the SSA still uses the list in the very end of the application process.
The SSA said in its announcement that its process for making decisions about disability is still good, but the agency is always looking for ways to improve its disability programs and make them easier for its clients to use.
The government agency said that it would only look at the most relevant jobs when deciding whether a person applying for disability benefits could do other kinds of work.
Martin O’Malley, the commissioner of social security, also said that it makes sense to list jobs that are currently very hard to find in the national economy. Because of this change, these jobs will no longer be a reason why our decision-makers turn down disability claims.
A few people on social media have praised the action. The change will make life easier for millions of people, says the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy. This is really big.
There is still a lot of work to be done, especially for disabled people of color who are more likely to be turned away.
I hope that the thousands of people who are in court right now will get help right away! A scholar and activist named Dr. T. Anansi Wilson wrote on X, which used to be called Twitter.
Why are disability benefits important for millions of beneficiaries in the United States?
The SSDI program is one of the most important parts of Social Security because it helps millions of disabled people pay their bills every month. The Social Security payroll tax is the main way that disability benefits are paid for.
In 2023, they will be worth about $152 billion. Disability benefits now pay 0.9% of their earnings in payroll tax, up to the maximum amount taxable under Social Security, which is $168,600 per year.
Benefits come from the SSDI trust fund, which is not the same as the larger retirement and survivors trust fund.
It is important to remember that most people who got SSDI had worked before they got sick or hurt. The average person had 22 years of work and made middle-class money before they got sick or hurt.
Also, because SSDI has strict requirements, most people who apply are turned down. The agency checks to see if any of the applications are technically invalid and then sends the rest to each state’s DDS for medical and vocational review.
If an applicant is turned down at the DDS level, they can file an appeal. A little less than one in three applicants end up getting rewards. SSA checks on beneficiaries on a regular basis so that they do not keep getting disability benefits after they have fully recovered.
