Today Social Security gave notice of Ruling 23-1p, “Titles II and XVI: Duration Requirement for Disability.”

The new Ruling rescinds and replaces SSR 82–52: Titles II and XVI: Duration of the Impairment.

Charles Hall made the following comment in his blog post about the new Ruling:

One thing I really don’t like about this is that it perpetuates the existing problem with situations where you need to combine two impairments to make up the one year duration requirement. As an example, a claimant is in chemotherapy for lung cancer and having a hard time of it for eight months. Before the chemo ends, the claimant is in an automobile accident and suffers a bad femur fracture that takes six months to heal. The claimant is out of work for more than a year due to the health problems but Social Security has examined the definition of disability with a microscope to find some tortured argument for denying such claims. Each disability must itself last at least a year. This only comes up rarely and usually when it does the decision makers involved are unaware of agency policy. Still, it’s unnecessary and cruel.

I totally agree.