President-Elect Trump has proposed “No Tax on Social Security.” The following additional changes are proposed:
No Federal Income Tax on SSDI
There is currently a five-month waiting period for benefits to start after an onset of disability is established once approved for SSDI. This waiting period should be removed due to economic hardship.
The waiting period is extremely burdensome on disabled individuals who have already had to survive on no income from the date they had to stop working due to their disability. Even if their last employer did offer short term disability benefits, the income is greatly reduced, causing economic hardship.
We must do more to assist disabled individuals in reducing great economic hardship once they become disabled and have to stop working and then have to wait for a decision after applying for SSDI. Many individuals even lose their home during this waiting period. Many have to subsequently file bankruptcy after they have to stop working, causing long-term economic hardship after their loss of credit.
Accordingly, SSDI benefits should be paid as of the onset date of disability, with no waiting period.
No Waiting Period for Medicare After Approved for SSDI
Currently an individual who is found disabled and qualifies for SSDI benefits must wait for a period of two years after SSDI payments begin to qualify for Medicare. Under the current program, that is a period of 29 months ( five months after the onset date of disability plus two years). This is an economic hardship on the disabled individual.
Not every disabled individual is able to be covered under another medical plan during this waiting period. If they are not married, they do not have the option of being covered under a spouse’s medical plan. Even if the disabled individual’s last employer offers continued medical insurance coverage under COBRA, there are many factors which may limit an individual’s ability to secure medical coverage under COBRA, such as:
(a) If the individual worked for an employer with less than 20 employees, the offer of continued medical insurance coverage under COBRA is not required.
(b) If an individual does qualify for continued medical insurance coverage under COBRA, the time allowed for continued coverage ranges from 18 to 36 months. For those who only qualify for a continuation of coverage for 18 months, then they are subject to a significant gap while awaiting Medicare coverage to begin as described above.
(c) Even if an individual qualifies for continued medical coverage under COBRA, many cannot afford the medical insurance due to the high cost, without employer contribution due to the disabled individual no longer working, and the fact they may have had no income from the time they stopped working until disability benefits actually begin to paid.
The delay of an Individual becoming eligible for Medicare once they are found disabled can affect a disabled person’s ability to receive proper medical care for their condition(s) during this waiting period, which can even be life threatening to some disabled individuals.
In summary, an individual becoming disabled is a hardship that is very difficult on the disabled individual. Accordingly, the added hardships of the waiting period for both SSDI benefits and Medicare should be changed to avoid economic and health care hardships and improve the quality of life to the disabled individual.