Poor Children’s Disability Denials To Be Re-Examined White House Reports Errors In 60,000 Ssi Cases Possible
The Clinton administration said on Wednesday night that it would re-examine the cases of 60,000 poor children who were denied disability benefits in the last year because it had concluded that the government might have made mistakes.
In addition, the new commissioner of Social Security, Kenneth Apfel, said a separate group of 75,000 to 80,000 families would be given new opportunities to appeal the loss of children’s disability benefits.
His actions are an unusual reversal by an agency that until recently had contended that its decisions to cut off benefits were proper.
The commissioner said many of the children might actually have been disabled enough to qualify for benefits under the tough new standards set by the 1996 welfare law. Many of the children are mentally retarded. Others suffer from diabetes, cerebral palsy and AIDS.
At a news conference on Wednesday night, Apfel said, “The Social Security Administration is taking steps above and beyond normal action to assure that every child receives a fair assessment of his or her benefit eligibility.” He also said he was “deeply concerned that children” could be harmed by his agency’s erroneous decisions.
The commissioner estimated that the new reviews and appeals would ultimately increase the number of children on the rolls by 35,000. The number losing benefits, after all appeals, will be 100,000, rather than the 135,000 initially estimated, he said. One million children receive disability benefits under the Supplemental Security Income program.
Apfel ordered new reviews of all mentally retardedchildren with mental retardation who have been removed from the rolls or have applied unsuccessfully for benefits since Aug. 22, 1996, when President Clinton signed the Republican-sponsored welfare law.
Lawyers and other advocates for disabled children applauded the commissioner’s actions. Jerome Shestack, president of the American Bar Association, said, “This is the best possible Christmas present the Social Security Administration could give to families with disabled children.”
Martha Ford, a lobbyist for the Arc, formerly known as the Association for Retarded Citizens, praised Apfel, saying he had taken “bold and necessary corrective action.”
Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., said Apfel was taking “a timely, much-needed step in the right direction.” The senator said the Social Security Administration had terminated benefits for “many more children than Congress ever intended.”
Congress, alarmed at the rapid growth of the disability program, tightened the eligibility criteria when it passed the 1996 welfare law. Benefits paid under the Supplemental Security Income program average $436 a month, or $5,232 a year. They help families pay for food, clothing, shelter and the extra costs of caring for disabled children.
Of the 60,000 children whose cases will be automatically reviewed, 45,000 were previously on the rolls and lost their benefits after being evaluated under the new eligibility criteria. They have a variety of impairments. (Slightly more than one-third are mentally retarded.)
The other 15,000 children have not been on the disability rolls, but unsuccessfully applied for benefits in the last year. In their applications, parents said these children had mental retardation.
In some cases, Apfel said, the government did not make adequate efforts to obtain evidence of children’s disabilities. In other cases, federal officials found that parents were misinformed of their legal rights or discouraged from appealing the termination of benefits.
xxxx Recipients One million children receive disability benefits under the Supplemental Security Income program.