Justice CDR’ed: Proposed SSA Rules Puts Disabled People Living with HIV At Risk

The Social Security Administration has proposed new rules requiring people receiving Social Security disability benefits (such as SSDI or SSI) to undergo more frequent Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs). People who show medical improvement in their ability to work during a CDR risk termination of their benefits.

These proposed rules have been presented without convincing evidence to support the need to increase the frequency of these reviews. Our experience is that disabled people living with HIV are more likely to have their benefits terminated because they have trouble navigating the burdensome CDR process, rather than because they have medically improved.

The SSA is accepting comments on the proposed rulemaking until Friday, January 31, 11:59 p.m. EST. The AIDS Law Project has written a letter opposing the proposed changes. You are welcome to sign on to our letter, which can be found here, or use ours to write your own comment.

If you want to sign-on to our letter, please leave your name and organization (if any) in the comments below by this Friday at noon.

If you want to submit your own comment about the time, money, and energy it took you or a client to complete forms, deal with Social Security bureaucracy, gather medical records, attend consultative exams, etc., you can post it at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/11/18/2019-24700/rules-regarding-the-frequency-and-notice-of-continuing-disability-reviews#open-comment.

Please note comments are PUBLIC. Your name, comment, and any medical information you disclose will become part of the public record.