Some good news for people who are on Social Security disability. The Social Security Administration has a policy of “Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs),” where it will re-evaluate a claimant’s medical condition to see if he or she is still disabled and still qualifies to be on benefits. These reviews are onerous for a claimant, who must often navigate the process without counsel. In 2019, SSA proposed a new rule which would have increased the frequency of CDRs. The proposed rules would have added a category to the existing medical diary categories that SSA uses to schedule CDRs and would have revised the criteria for assigning each of the medical diary categories to cases. The proposed rules would also have changed the frequency with which SSA performs a CDR for claims with the medical diary category for “permanent” impairments.
This led to a great deal of opposition from disability groups. SSA published the proposed rule in the Federal Register and received 125,552 comments from the public. After considering the comments, SSA withdrew the proposed rule.
Even though SSA withdrew this proposed rule, CDRs are occurring more frequently. The best way to prepare for them is to see your medical provider as often as possible and be sure to tell your providers about all of your disabling symptoms.