Friday, June 16, 2006
Rep. Becerra Works to Ensure All Who Are Eligible For Disability Benefits Receive Them
Questions raised in Social Security subcommittee HEARING lead to increased outreach efforts at the SSA
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Responding to questions raised in a May 11, 2006, hearing of the Social Security Subcommittee by Representative Xavier Becerra (CA-31), the only member of Congress from Southern California who sits on the Ways and Means Committee, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will increase efforts to enroll all who are eligible for benefits as Disabled Adult Children (DAC) of retired, deceased, or disabled workers.
Under current law, an adult disabled before age 22 may be eligible for income benefits if a parent worker is deceased or receiving retirement or disability benefits. Concerned that too many potential beneficiaries were not aware of this important source of security income for disabled Americans, Rep. Becerra asked SSA Commissioner Jo Anne Barnhart during her testimony to the subcommittee what was being done to inform likely beneficiaries of their eligibility.
"I want to thank you for bringing to our attention the issue of alerting potential disabled adult child beneficiaries to the availability of this benefit," Commissioner Barnhart said in a written response to Rep. Becerra dated June 6, 2006.
"As you suggest, we will explore the possibility of including information about [DAC] benefits in notices to Supplemental Security Income recipients … More immediately, we have made changes to our Web site so that disabled adult children and the people who are helping them can more easily see that these benefits are potentially available to them," Commissioner Barnhart said.
"I am pleased to see the Social Security Administration improving its efforts to educate the public about this important benefit. I hope to see more steps taken in the future to ensure that all eligible recipients are enrolled and receiving the assistance they are entitled to," Rep. Becerra said upon receiving the commissioner's letter.
