President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law on August 14, 1935. In the eighty years that have passed since the bill’s inception, it has undergone many changes and it will likely undergo many more as time goes on.
The Social Security Disability Lawyers at Newlin Disability explain the Act was originally created to offer financial assistance to American workers who had become too old to continue performing the daily duties of their jobs. Experts credit the act with helping cut poverty rates amongst seniors from around 50 percent during the Great Depression to around 10 percent today.
These successes prompted an expansion of the program to include those who aren’t able to work due to a disabling condition or illness; however, the program is continuing to evolve and an article from U.S. News & World Report outlines a few of the latest policies governing the program.
The Social Security Administration is considering including more qualifying conditions for Social Security Disability benefits and changing the standards of eligibility for certain qualifying conditions. Furthermore, the Social Security Administration—the federal agency charged with overseeing the Social Security programs—deliberates whether or not an increase in benefit payments should be implemented due to inflation rates.
The staff at Newlin Disability understands the need for change in order to keep Social Security Disability laws relevant to the times and we are hopeful any reforms that are made are successful in improving the longevity of this very important program.
