October 9, 1984
I am pleased to sign into law H.R. 3755, the Social Security Disability Benefits Reform Act of
1984. This legislation, which has been formulated with the support of the administration and
passed by unanimous vote in both Houses of Congress, should restore order, uniformity, and
consensus in the disability program. It maintains our commitment to treat disabled American
citizens fairly and humanely while fulfilling our obligation to the Congress and the American
taxpayers to administer the disability program effectively.
When I took office on January 20, 1981, my administration inherited the task of implementing the
continuing disability reviews required by the 1980 Disability Amendments which had been enacted
and signed into law during the previous administration. Soon after the Department of Health and
Human Services began the mandatory reviews, we found that trying to implement the new law's
requirements within the framework of the old, paper-oriented review process was causing
hardships for beneficiaries. Accordingly, back in 1982, the Department began a long series of
administrative reforms designed to make the disability review process more humane and
people-oriented. These reforms included providing face-to-face meetings between beneficiaries
and Social Security Administration (SSA) claims representatives at the very start of the review
process.
These initial steps were followed by further important reforms announced by Secretary Heckler in
June of 1983, including:
One indication of the complexity of the issues involved is the fact that Congress held more than
40 hearings on the disability review process over a 3-year period before arriving at a consensus on
this legislation.
One significant provision of H.R. 3755 is the so-called medical improvement standard that sets
forth the criteria SSA must apply when deciding whether a disability beneficiary is still disabled.
The standard this new legislation would establish for future determinations will restore the
uniformity that is so essential to a nationwide program.
Another provision in H.R. 3755 would extend temporarily the ability of a Social Security
disability beneficiary who has decided to appeal a decision that his disability has ended to have
benefits continued up to the decision of an administrative law judge. This will prevent undue
hardship to beneficiaries who are found on appeal to be still disabled while the new law is being
put in place.
In addition, the legislation places a desirable moratorium on reviews to determine whether
individuals with mental impairments are still disabled until revised criteria for evaluating these
impairments are published. The Department of Health and Human Services has been working with
mental health experts on these criteria.
Several other changes are written into this new law that will clarify and expedite the
administration of the disability program.
I have asked Secretary Heckler to implement the provisions of this legislation as speedily and as
fairly as possible. The Department of Health and Human Services will act promptly in reviewing
individual cases so that no disabled beneficiary has to wait any longer than necessary for the
proper decision on his or her case.
Note: As enacted, H.R. 3755 is Public Law 98 - 460, approved October 9.
While those June 1983 reforms went a long way towards humanizing the process, by the spring of
1984, it became apparent that legislation was needed to end the debate and confusion over what
standard should be used in conducting continuing disability reviews. The administration worked
with the Congress to develop this consensus legislation and, in the interim, took the additional
step of suspending the periodic disability reviews pending implementation of new disability
legislation.