Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Social Security Disability Insurance for the Terminally Ill Act of 2013”.
Social Security Disability Insurance for the Terminally Ill Act of 2013
A BILL
To amend title II of the Social Security Act to eliminate the five-month waiting period in the disability insurance program, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Elimination of title II waiting period for terminally ill individuals
In general— Section 223(a)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 423(a)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: “In the case of any application for disability insurance benefits filed by an individual who is determined to be under a disability and who has been certified as terminally ill by a physician (as defined in section 1861(r)(1)), this paragraph shall be applied without regard to any waiting period. For the purposes of the preceding sentence, an individual is considered to be terminally ill if the individual has a medical prognosis that the individual's life expectancy is 12 months or less.”.
Effective date— The amendment made by this section shall take effect with respect to applications filed after the date of the enactment of this Act.