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Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the We Can't Wait Act, a bipartisan bill with my colleague from New Hampshire Senator Hassan. This legislation addresses a pressing and unnecessary hardship in our Social Security Disability Insurance Program. This program, known as SSDI, provides eligible individuals with benefits if they become disabled and are unable to work. Our bill would give eligible individuals with disabilities the option of bypassing the current 5-month waiting period and allow them to access the benefits that they have earned without further delay.

As my colleagues are aware, SSDI benefits are available only to those who have worked long enough and contributed sufficiently through payroll taxes to the Social Security Disability Insurance Trust Fund.

When an individual becomes disabled and meets the program's strict eligibility standards, he or she should be able to rely on the benefits that they paid for, benefits intended to provide critical support during a time of great need.

Imagine that you have worked for many years and you find that you have contracted a disease that is fatal and that you have very little time to live. Surely, you should be able to tap into what essentially is an insurance fund set up for people in exactly that situation. But because of the 5-month waiting period, there are individuals who receive no payments at all.

During those 5 months, no payments are made, even though the disability has been confirmed by the Social Security Administration. This delay prevents individuals from accessing the insurance they have earned, at a critical and difficult time in their lives.

Lack of benefits can make it more difficult to obtain timely medical treatments, cover basic living expenses, and, in some cases where it is not a terminal condition, begin the process of rehabilitation toward an eventual return to work, if possible.

The burden of this delay can be heartbreaking. I have heard from constituents whose loved ones could get no help from SSDI when they were overtaken by a sudden and terminal diagnosis. Faced with a terrible disease that demanded every ounce of their energy and their total focus, they were forced instead to worry over their finances at the very end of their lives.

This just isn't right. The broader disability determination process already imposes significant hardships. A 2020 Government Accountability Office report documented what can be severe consequences of the long wait times for applicants who appealed initial denials for a Social Security disability.

Between fiscal years 2014 and 2019, approximately 48,000 individuals were forced to file for bankruptcy while awaiting a final decision on their appeals. From 2008 through 2019, an estimated nearly 110,000 people died before receiving a final decision.

These heartbreaking outcomes occur even before many applicants reach the point of approval. Yet even once they are approved, the additional 5-month exclusion period compounds the suffering for those who have already proven their eligibility.

Congress has already acted to address this delay in certain circumstances. In 2020, we passed the ALS Disability Insurance Access Act. It eliminated the 5-month waiting period for individuals with ALS, a progressive, terminal disease where every month, every day is critical. That bipartisan reform was the right thing to do, and I was proud to cosponsor it.

The We Can't Wait Act builds directly on that precedent. Under our bill, claimants would have a choice. They could either opt to begin receiving benefits immediately after approval, rather than waiting 5 months, in exchange for a modest actuarially sound reduction in their monthly benefit amount, or they could decide to wait the 5 months and receive the full amount.

As the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration explains in a letter released today, this small reduction in benefits maintains the actuarial balance in the trust fund over the 75-year projection period.

Let me emphasize that this bill makes no other changes in the SSDI Program. It does not alter eligibility criteria, the determination process--although that should be speeded up--benefit levels for those who choose not to bypass the wait, or any other core element in the program.

It is a precise reform that honors the contributions hard-working Americans with disabilities have made while removing an arbitrary barrier to the benefits that they have earned and deserve.

While this reform is carefully targeted, its impact would be profound. It would end the tragic reality in which Americans with disabilities suffer and, in some cases, die during an unnecessary 5- month delay after their disability has been officially certified by the Social Security Administration.

This is a key point made in a letter supporting the bill by a broad coalition of organizations committed to the rights, dignity, and well- being of people with disabilities--groups that advocate every day for those who need this relief most.

The letter, which is signed by more than two dozen organizations, goes on to make the point that the 5-month exclusion period is unnecessary and harms disabled Americans who are often financially hanging on by a thread.

The We Can't Wait Act is straightforward, compassionate, and fiscally responsible. It would provide a crucial option to Americans who simply can't wait even 5 months for the benefits they have worked for and desperately need.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this commonsense and much needed legislation.

Today, hundreds of thousands of Americans with disabilities are unable to access Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits when they need them most, even though they have paid into the SSDI program all their working lives. In fact, current law and policy impose obstacles to workers that unfairly delay their insurance, medical treatment, and return to work.

By design, SSDI is not a benefits program--it is a funded insurance program supported by workers' paycheck deductions, is only available to those who have contributed enough through work, and is limited based on how long one has worked. In return, SSDI ensures that if eligible workers ever become disabled, they will be able to access the insurance they need to survive.

However, hundreds of thousands of American workers who have paid into SSDI face obstacles each year as they try to access the benefits they need. Disabled workers are denied their insurance for the first five months after becoming eligible. This exclusion period is fundamentally unfair. As the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported, more than 100,000 American workers died while awaiting a decision on their SSDI eligibility, a process that can often take 18 months. In addition, an estimated 50,000 workers were forced to file for bankruptcy while they waited for SSDI coverage. The five-month exclusion period is unnecessary and harms disabled Americans who are often financially hanging on by a thread.

By passing the We Can't Wait Act, Congress can ensure an equitable and cost-effective system that supports all individuals with significant health challenges and does not harm the SSDI Trust Fund. The We Can't Wait Act would allow disabled Americans to elect to access their benefits during the five-month exclusionary period in exchange for a small reduction in their monthly benefits. The election would be voluntary and the Social Security Administration would be required to provide a benefits calculator and other resources to help applicants decide. The adjustment rate would be set initially at 5.75%, which is much less than the interest rates at which people often have to borrow money to meet their immediate needs. The Social Security Administration would assess and adjust the rate periodically to ensure it does not reduce the SSDI Trust Fund.

Considering these crucial factors, we, the undersigned, urge Congress to pass the We Can't Wait Act.

Alliance for Aging Research; American Association of People with Disabilities; American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network; American Council of the Blind; Assure Disability; Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law; Bender Consulting Services, Inc.; Brain Injury Association of America; Center for HIV Law & Policy; Communication First; disABILITY Law Center of Virginia; Disability Rights Maine; Disability Rights North Carolina; Disability Rights Pennsylvania; Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund; National Alliance on Mental Illness; National Association of Disability Representatives; National Association of the Deaf; National Disability Institute; National Disability Rights Network; National Federation of the Blind; National Industries for the Blind; National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives; National Organization on Disability; Paralyzed Veterans of America; Respectability; World Institute on Disability. ______

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