LFA SECURES CHANGES IN PROPOSED QUALIFICATIONS FOR SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY BENEFITS

Persons who are unable to work because of the severity of their lupus may soon find it easier to receive Social Security Disability benefits thanks to efforts by the LFA which began in 2003. The LFA sought changes to the regulations used to determine whether a person qualifies for disability benefits and petitioned the Social Security Administration (SSA) to more accurately reflect in their regulations the medical consequences of lupus.

In August, 2006 the SSA published proposed changes to the disability regulations. We are pleased to report that they have accepted LFA's recommendations and they are reflected in the proposed regulations. The highlights of the proposed changes are as follows:

• The current law states that to be determined disabled, a lupus patient must have severe fatigue, fever, malaise, and weight loss. The proposed new rule only requires a patient to have two of these symptoms—not all four. This is a dramatic improvement.
• The proposed rule states in several sections that fatigue can be debilitating, in and of itself, and directs Social Security staff to consider fatigue in making their determination of disability.
• The current law has a requirement that the person must have active disease for at least three months. For lupus patients, this would mean the person must be in a flare for three months. At the recommendation of the LFA, the SSA has removed that requirement.

The LFA's goal in seeking these changes is to ensure that the process to receive Social Security Disability benefits is not overly burdensome. Although the proposed changes make it possible for a person who is truly medically disabled to receive assistance, it will still be difficult and time consuming, and may take up to three years to complete.

While these changes are positive, the proposal is not yet final until the SSA publishes the final regulations. However, we are hopeful final regulations will remain as proposed.

The LFA wishes to express appreciation to Dr. Joan Merrill and Dr. Evelyn Hess, as well as attorney Doug Smith and attorney Winnie Pannell, for their ongoing guidance and analysis which was most helpful.h