Rules regulating Social Security’s disability programs are plentiful. There are rules about timelines, there are rules about payments and most importantly there are rules related to disabling conditions that qualify for disability benefits. As you might expect, these rules change, although not that often, but beginning Jan. 17, 2017 there will be some significant changes to medical rules in evaluating mental disorders.
Social Security recently published these new rules and they cover all types of mental disorders including Autism; anxiety; depression; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); Bipolar Disorder; and eating disorders.
There is no doubt that undertaking such a task is something that took a lot of time and work considering Social Security is extremely understaffed these days as referenced by a press release from Social Security about the rules changes
“Updating our medical criteria for the disability program is a challenging task that has been complicated by deep budgetary cuts in recent years,” said Carolyn Colvin, Social Security’s acting commissioner. “We are committed to updating our regulations to reflect up-to-date standards and practices used in the healthcare community.”
These new rule changes are a result of Social Security implementing information from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the mental health profession’s current standard classification of mental disorders. The new rules were also impacted by disability policy experts, adjudicators, psychiatric professionals and vocational experts.
These rules are a big thing when it comes to disability cases. They will be used to determine whether a claimant is disabled and can receive benefits. There have been many comments about the rules on different blogs related to the changes and so far it appears those who have experience dealing with Social Security disability cases seem to think the new rules may be more favorable to claimants, but time will tell.
