Bill Text: TX HCR33 | 2017 | 85th Legislature 1st Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to waive the Social Security Disability Insurance five-month waiting period for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-08-08 - Referred to State & Federal Power & Responsibility, Select [HCR33 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HCR33-Introduced.html
85S12158 BPG-D | ||
By: Nevárez | H.C.R. No. 33 |
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WHEREAS, Social Security Disability Insurance provides | ||
critical benefits to people disabled by amyotrophic lateral | ||
sclerosis, but federal law currently imposes a five-month waiting | ||
period before qualified patients can receive both SSDI and | ||
Medicare, regardless of the degree of disability or how quickly the | ||
Social Security Administration approves a claim; and | ||
WHEREAS, Each year, more than 6,000 Americans are diagnosed | ||
with ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects | ||
nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord; military veterans, | ||
particularly those deployed in the Gulf War, are approximately | ||
twice as likely as others to develop ALS; and | ||
WHEREAS, ALS eventually robs its victims of the ability to | ||
initiate and control muscle movement, leading to complete paralysis | ||
and death; average life expectancy is just three years, and nearly | ||
half of all patients die within 16 months of diagnosis; and | ||
WHEREAS, The five-month SSDI waiting period was originally | ||
established to allow time for temporary conditions to reverse; ALS, | ||
however, is always disabling and inevitably fatal; Congress has | ||
already acknowledged the unique nature of ALS and its rapid | ||
progression by waiving the standard 24-month waiting period for | ||
Medicare benefits, and the Social Security Administration has | ||
implemented a number of policies to expedite the review of claims by | ||
ALS patients for SSDI and Supplemental Security Income benefits; | ||
and | ||
WHEREAS, ALS is swift, cruel, and unrelenting, and it is | ||
vital that those afflicted by this disease have access as quickly as | ||
possible to the health and disability benefits they have earned; | ||
now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas, | ||
1st Called Session, hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the | ||
United States to waive the Social Security Disability Insurance | ||
five-month waiting period for patients with amyotrophic lateral | ||
sclerosis; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record | ||
as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |