The bipartisan legislation would eliminate the five-month waiting period before ALS patients can access disability benefits

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (both D-N.J.) joined colleagues in cosponsoring the ALS Disability Insurance Access Act, bipartisan legislation to eliminate the five-month waiting period before Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patients can receive the Social Security Disability Insurance benefits they earned by contributing into Social Security. This legislation would build on previous steps by Congress and the Social Security Administration to accommodate the difficult prognosis for those diagnosed with ALS.

"ALS is a progressive, time-sensitive disease, and forcing individuals struggling with it to wait months for the disability benefits they earned and rightly deserve just makes that struggle all the more difficult,"said Senator Menendez. "It's unfair. We cannot wait. We need to pass this legislation now."

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease affecting the ability of the brain to control muscle movements. Individuals with ALS progressively lose the ability to speak, walk, and breathe. The intended purpose of a five-month waiting period is to allow temporary conditions to reverse. However, there is currently no cure or treatment to halt or undo the effects of ALS, and some ALS patients lose their fight with the disease before ever receiving benefits. The ALS Disability Insurance Access Act would help alleviate some of the financial hardship that accompanies an ALS diagnosis, and support those living with ALS and their families.

"Over the course of a five-month waiting period, people living with ALS will have only experienced progressive loss of function and will have incurred significant expenses for care and treatment," said Calaneet Balas, President and CEO of The ALS Association. "We urge Congress to pass this legislation and remove the arbitrary five-month waiting period that creates an unfair financial burden on people whose life expectancy is so tragically abbreviated. People with ALS have earned and should receive both Medicare and Social Security Disability Insurance benefits immediately. They simply don't have months to wait."

In addition to Sens. Menendez and Booker, the bipartisan legislation is cosponsored by Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Jon Tester (D-MT), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).

The companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives is cosponsored by 89 Members.

Read this original document at: https://www.menendez.senate.gov/news-and-events/press/menendez-booker-colleagues-introduce-als-disability-insurance-access-act