The Two-Year Hole Between Social Security Disability and Medicare
Sue Sherman was healthy and happy, working as a fitness trainer; her hobby was horseback riding. All of that changed when she was struck with devastating news: She had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. After qualifying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Sherman thought her luck had changed — until she learned she faced a two-year wait to become eligible for medical treatments with Medicare.
The Oregon woman is just one of two million disabled people nationwide caught between qualifying for SSDI and waiting for needed help from Medicare.
For many, they've depleted their savings and cannot afford private health insurance.
The Oregonian reports that Sherman began researching this large hole in the nation's safety net that she'd fallen through.
What she found was that the two-year waiting period was created in 1972 in order to keep costs down and preserve Medicare for people with long-term, severe disabilities.
Bureaucrats had, in effect, created a way to save money by ensuring that some very ill people on SSDI would never last long enough to get treatments with Medicare: About 12 percent don't make it to the end of the 24-month waiting period.
Nearly eight million Americans are receiving SSDI; about one-quarter of them — 1.8 million people — are caught in the two-year waiting period.
Even SSDI has a five-month waiting period. According to the Social Security Administration, this ensures that it doesn't pay people who don't have long-term disabilities. Of course, it also ensures that those with long-term disabilities don't get the money they need for necessities until the sixth month after qualifying for SSDI.
A 2003 study showed that nearly one-quarter of those caught in the 24-month waiting period between SSDI and Medicare go the entire two years without any insurance.
For others, they go through a maze of red tape to put together a patchwork of insurance, partial coverage, mounting debt, borrowing and other coping methods.
For many disabled people dealing with the two-year wait, news of the passage of health care reform in 2010 was welcome. The reform effectively ends the notorious waiting period. Unfortunately, that aspect of the reform doesn't take effect until 2014.
Applying for Social Security Disability benefits is a complex process that is more likely to be done successfully with the help of a New York SSDI attorney. Contact a Social Security Disability lawyer who can provide the assistance vital to both applications and handling denials of benefits.
At Schwartzapfel Partners P.C., our dedicated team of lawyers and professionals has more than 150 years of combined experience helping individuals obtain the money and benefits they deserve and need. Call our New York law firm at 888-801-1914 to schedule your free claim evaluation. If you choose to have us represent you through this complex maze, you will not pay any attorneys fees unless and until we have won your claim.
