H.R. 7104 — Immediate Access for the Terminally Ill Act

This section establishes an irrevocable election option under new subsection (k) for applicants diagnosed with an incurable terminal illness on a compassionate allowance list—defined as conditions with average life expectancy not exceeding five years from diagnosis and no known cure, to be published by the Social Security Administration Commissioner within six months of enactment and every five years thereafter via formal rulemaking—to receive disability insurance benefits without the five-month waiting period, with monthly benefits reduced to 93% (from 100%) of the otherwise applicable amount under subsection (a)(2). This section also limits the existing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis waiting-period waiver to applications filed from December 22, 2020, through one year after enactment by inserting that filing requirement into subsection (a)(1); renumbers clauses accordingly; and makes conforming amendments to subsection (a)(2) benefit computations. The amendments apply to applications filed six months after enactment.

This section requires congressional approval, via enactment of a bill or joint resolution, before the Social Security Administration may add any disease or medical condition to its list of Compassionate Allowance Conditions (i.e., severe impairments qualifying for expedited processing of disability insurance benefit claims under the Social Security Act), effective on the date of enactment. (Thus, the agency may no longer unilaterally expand the list.)

This section establishes a new prohibition in the Social Security Act (SSA) that reduces to zero an individual's monthly Social Security disability insurance (SSDI) benefits under SSA section 223 and any other SSA Title II benefits under section 202(b)-(h) based on the individual's own wages and self-employment income if the individual receives unemployment compensation (as defined in IRC section 85(b)) in the same month prior to attaining retirement age (as defined in SSA section 216(l)(1)). (SSDI provides monthly cash benefits to disabled workers insured under the Social Security program.) It requires federal agencies to share relevant information with the SSA Commissioner, authorizes data-sharing agreements with states and other unemployment compensation administrators, and subjects benefit reduction determinations to notice and hearing requirements.

This section modifies overpayment recovery procedures under the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program by authorizing the Commissioner of Social Security, if a 100% reduction in an overpaid individual's monthly benefit would defeat the purpose of Title II of the Social Security Act, to instead decrease such payment by an amount greater than or equal to 10% (previously, no minimum recovery percentage or explicit exception to full offset was specified). (Thus, overpayments may be recouped more gradually from ongoing OASDI benefits to avoid leaving beneficiaries destitute.)