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A benefit was provided for disabled widows, aged 50 to 59 and disabled dependent widowers aged 50-61. The benefit was to be actuarially reduced according to the age of the beneficiary at the time of eligibility. To be eligible for the benefits, the widow or widower must. have become totally disabled not later than 7 years after the spouse's death, or in the case of a widowed mother, before the end of her benefits as a mother or within 7 years thereafter. These years provided the widow or widower with enough time to earn quarters of coverage to gain protection on his or her own record. However, the definition of disability for a widow, surviving divorced wife or widower was narrowed. In order to be found disabled, the above dependents must have a physical or mental impairment that is of such severity that it precludes the individual from engaging in any gainful activity. The test is based on the medical severity of the impairment and is not based on non-medical factors and work activity. No trial work period was provided for disabled widows and widowers.

The Senate Finance Committee added an amendment which changed the definition of blindness from "central visual acuity of 5/200 or less" to "central visual acuity of 20/200 or less." This new definition conforms to the definition of industrial blindness and enabled people who are industrially blind to qualify automatically for a social security earnings records freeze. In order to qualify for benefits, though, the blind person still had to prove inability to engage in substantital gainful activity.

The workmen's compensation offset was modified. Previous law did not take into account that some workers' creditable earnings for social security were only a part of their actual total earnings, and they may be getting less than 80 percent of the total predisability income. The new provision took into account the earnings of a worker which were in excess of those credited for social security purposes by providing that "average current earnings" could also be computed as one-sixtieth of the worker's total earnings over a specified 5-year period.

For purposes of the disability freeze, an extension of the time allowed to file was authorized. If an application for the freeze is filed not more than 12 months after the month in which the Social Security Amendments of 1967 were enacted, and if the disability ended not more than 36 months previous to the application; the freeze will be granted if, in accordance with the rules and regulations by the Secretary, the lapsed time was due to the worker's physical or mental condition.

A provision pertaining to attorney fees was passed on the Senate floor and adopted by the Conference. It authorized the Secretary of HEW to certify for payment a fee for services in administrative proceedings which result in a favorable outcome for the claimant. The amount certified for the fee could not exceed the smaller of (1) 25 percent of the past-due benefits, (2) the fee fixed by the Secretary, and (3) the fee agreed upon by the applicant and the attorney. The Secretary retained his authority to set fees according to how much time the attorney spent on the case and how difficult it was to prepare and argue.

Social Security Amendments of 1972 (Public Law 92-603)

The amendments of this year were part of the comprehensive welfare-social security bill, H.R. 1. This bill was passed by the House on June 22, 1971, and by the Senate on October 6, 1972. Most of the lengthy debate on the bill was concerned with the welfare reform aspects rather than the disability program. However, the legislation did contain some new provisions for the disability program.

The waiting period required before a benefit could be paid was reduced from 6 to 5 months.

The recency of work requirement (20 quarters of coverage in the last 40-quarter period preceding disability) was eliminated for a blind person. The blind worker must now have as many quarters of coverage as the number of calendar years that have elapsed after 1950 or the year he reached 21, whichever is later.

Under previous law a worker's social security disability benefit was reduced if the disability benefit and any workmen's compensation benefit received exceeded 80 percent of the workers' average current earnings. The new law provided an additional method for computing the average current earnings. It can now be based on the highest 1 year of total earnings (not limited to earn-ings creditable for social security purposes), in the period consisting of the year of onset of disability and the 5 preceding years. It was felt that these earnings would perhaps be higher than earlier ones because of inflation.

Childhood disability benefits may be paid to an adult if the childhood disability began before age 22 instead of age 18 (as provided by previous law). In addition, a person who was entitled to childhood disability benefits will become reentitled if he again becomes disabled within 7 years after his prior entitlement to such benefits was terminated. This provision was included to encourage the person with a childhood disability to experiment with skills without losing entitlement to benefits. Applications for disability insurance benefits may be filed within 3 months after worker's death. Reimbursement from the Disability Trust Funds for vocational rehabilitation was increased in two stages-to 1.25 percent of the trust fund in fiscal year 1973 and to 1.5 percent of the trust fund in fiscal year 1974.