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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, Social Security Disability Insurance provides |
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critical benefits to people disabled by amyotrophic lateral |
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sclerosis, but federal law currently imposes a five-month waiting |
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period before qualified patients can receive both SSDI and |
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Medicare, regardless of the degree of disability or how quickly the |
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Social Security Administration approves a claim; and |
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WHEREAS, Each year, more than 6,000 Americans are diagnosed |
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with ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects |
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nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord; military veterans, |
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particularly those deployed in the Gulf War, are approximately |
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twice as likely as others to develop ALS; and |
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WHEREAS, ALS eventually robs its victims of the ability to |
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initiate and control muscle movement, leading to complete paralysis |
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and death; average life expectancy is just three years, and nearly |
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half of all patients die within 16 months of diagnosis; and |
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WHEREAS, The five-month SSDI waiting period was originally |
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established to allow time for temporary conditions to reverse; ALS, |
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however, is always disabling and inevitably fatal; Congress has |
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already acknowledged the unique nature of ALS and its rapid |
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progression by waiving the standard 24-month waiting period for |
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Medicare benefits, and the Social Security Administration has |
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implemented a number of policies to expedite the review of claims by |
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ALS patients for SSDI and Supplemental Security Income benefits; |
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and |
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WHEREAS, ALS is swift, cruel, and unrelenting, and it is |
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vital that those afflicted by this disease have access as quickly as |
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possible to the health and disability benefits they have earned; |
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now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas, |
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1st Called Session, hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the |
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United States to waive the Social Security Disability Insurance |
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five-month waiting period for patients with amyotrophic lateral |
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sclerosis; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
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members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
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this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record |
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as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |