According to CCH Unemployment Insurance, the Social Security Administration has revised the criteria in the Listing of Impairments that is uses to evaluate disability benefit claims involving endocrine disorders. The revised rules are effective June 2011, and will remain in effect for five years.
According to the SSA, the revision removes all of the listed impairments for both adults and children, except for diabetes mellitus in children under the age of six, while expanding the introductory text in each of those selections. The SSA gives several reasons for undertaking a sweeping revision.
Advances in medical treatment and detection help endocrine disorders to not reach listing-level severity because they do not become sufficiently severe, or do not remain at a sufficient level of severity long enough to meet the SSA’s 12-month duration requirement. Also, many of the current listings in the system are reference listings that are met by satisfying the criteria of other listings.
Endocrine disorders are disorders of the endocrine system. The endocrine system is a system of glands, each which secretes a type of hormone in the bloodstream. Endocrine glands regulate the functioning of organs and other glands, and may cause severe disorders that affect those organs and glands.
The SSA’s decision to revise endocrine disorders will not affect existing beneficiaries. Individuals currently receiving SSDI due to an endocrine disorder will not see their disability benefits cease because the agency has removed a listing. The old criteria will still be used to determine if a claimant who has already qualified for disability benefits continues to be disabled.
