Subject: New Rules to Speed Disability Benefits To People With HIV
Date: Published: 12/18/91 (40 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    New Rules to Speed
    Disability Benefits
    To People With HIV

    WASHINGTON -- The government issued rules to speed up
 disability benefits to people infected with the virus that
 causes AIDS.  
    Effective immediately, the rules expand the list of
 AIDS-related medical conditions that automatically qualify a
 person to receive disability payments from the Social
 Security Administration.
    Federal officials say the change isn't likely to add many
 people to Social Security rolls, because most people who have
 the conditions on the expanded list would eventually qualify
 for the benefits, which are paid retroactively to the time
 the beneficiary submits an application.  But the officials
 said the change should cut the time it takes to approve an
 application to less than a month.  Currently, reviews
 generally take several months.
    Among the medical conditions added to the list are a
 number of gynecological ailments.
    The new rules will allow payments under the Supplemental
 Security Income program to low-income people with the human
 immunodeficiency virus, which causes the incurable acquired
 immune deficiency syndrome.  Previously, a person had to have
 AIDS to receive the payments.
    The change is important because anyone eligible for the
 SSI program also qualifies for health coverage under
 Medicaid.
    Currently, about 52,000 Americans infected with AIDS or
 HIV receive more than $300 million in Social Security
 disability benefits.

[This article is made available here by Dow Jones Co. for the
 personal and non-commercial use of callers to this bbs, in the
 hope that it will be of some help to those who are suffering
 from the disease and others who are seeking to help them.]