Will COVID-19 long-haulers soon receive federal disability support payments?
That may be in the future for the cash-strapped U.S. government.
President Joe Biden announced on Monday that long COVID patients will now qualify as disabled, making them eligible for disability resources and protections.
“We are bringing agencies together to make sure Americans with long Covid, who have a disability, have access to the rights and resources that are due under disability law,” Biden said during his remarks at the White House Rose Garden.
But is financial assistance the next goal for the administration?
Representative John Larson (D-CT) told TIME Magazine that he thinks President Biden will introduce this soon.
“I expect that with President Biden’s recent removal of former Commissioner Andrew Saul and appointment of Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi, SSA will be rededicating itself to ensuring that people can access the Social Security benefits they have earned and are eligible for, including by properly evaluating the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the ability to work,” he said.
The news outlet further wrote:
Last June, Democratic Representatives John Larson of Connecticut, chair of the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, and Danny Davis of Illinois, chair of the Worker and Family Subcommittee, urged the Social Security Administration to work with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) to examine the long-term impact of COVID-19 on people’s ability to work. A spokesperson for the agency says it has been “regularly consulting” with NASEM “throughout the pandemic” and heard from experts on COVID-19 at a regularly scheduled National Disability Forum on Nov. 18. The spokesperson says SSA can evaluate COVID long haulers under its current rules, but, “Researchers are still learning about the disease and we will continue to look at our policies as research evolves.”
In the meantime, benefits applications can languish for more than a year while the applicants struggle to live and pay their bills in uncertainty. If they try to work during this time, many worry that effort can be used against them. Wait times for hearings vary by office but can be up to 16 months in some parts of the country, according to SSA data. The backlog had been declining before the pandemic, but with pent-up demand from the last year and the likely influx of long haulers, wait times are expected to rise again.
Soon, COVID-19 will make Americans entitled to Uncle Sam’s cash.
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