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(b) The 1946 Report to the Committee on Ways and Means by the Committee's social security technical staff -5-

-5- Issues in social security: A report to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives by the committee's social security technical staff established pursuant to H. Res. 204 (79th Cong., 1st sess.), 1946.

After an analysis of the problems involved in long-term disability benefits provided as an extension of OASI, this report-known as the Calhoun report- suggested as an initial step that such benefits be provided only to persons above some specified age, such as 55 or 60. It was felt that this would be a promising method for easing into disability insurance with a minimum of initial difficulty, although it was recognized that it would not touch the areas where the conse-quences of disability were the most serious. -6-

-6- Ibid., p. 101. In its 1947 report, the Social Security Administration argued against the suggestion that benefits be limited to disabled workers over age 55 by emphasizing that the consequences of disability may be more disastrous for the younger than the older worker. See annual report of the Federal Security Agency (1947), pp.62 and 63.

(c) Social Security Act Amendments of 1946

These amendments were limited in scope and dealt only with simple and noncontroversial legislative changes; they did not include a provision for disability insurance.

(d) The 1948 Report of the Advisory Council on Social Security to the Senate Committee on Finance -7-

-7- S. Doc. 162, 80th Cong., 1st sew. (19480.

The Council recommended payment of benefits to the permanently and totally disabled, regardless of age, as part of the social insurance system. (Two members of the Council disagreed with this recommendation. They felt that protection against the risk of total disability should be provided by State assistance programs aided by Federal grants and should not be included in a Federal contributory system.) Some of the specific recommendations of the Council were --

(1) A strict test of recent and substantial attachment to the labor market should be a condition of eligibility. The individual would need a minimum of 40 quarters of coverage, at least 1 quarter of coverage for every 2-calendar quarters in his working lifetime before the onset of disability, at least 6 quarters of coverage in the 12 quarters preceding such onset, and at least 2 quarters of coverage in the 4 quarters preceding such onset.

(2) The definition of disability would mean "any disability which is medically demonstrable by objective tests, which prevents the worker from performing any substantially gainful activity, and which is likely to be of long-continued and indefinite duration." -8-

-8- Ibid., p. 5.

(3) Qualified individuals would be eligible for benefits after a waiting period of 6 months. Such a waiting period was recommended "because it is sufficiently long to permit most essentially temporary conditions to clear up or show definite signs of probable recovery."-9-

-9- Ibid., p. 7.

(4) No benefits would be provided for dependents.

(5) Benefits would be suspended where workmen's compensation was payable; if another Federal program paid a disability benefit, only the larger benefit would be paid. It was felt that dual benefits based on disa-bility would be so high as to discourage beneficiaries from returning to gainful work when they are able to do so.-10-

-10- Ibid., p. 9.

(6) The provisions for disability benefits and for old-age and survivors benefits would be so integrated that periods of total disability would not be counted in computing insured status and the average monthly wage of a disabled person.

(7) Rehabilitation services would be provided and paid from the trust fund.

Social Security Act Amendments of 1950

Many of the details of the present disability program had their origin in the bill, H.R. 6000, which eventually became the 1950 amendments to the Social Security Act. This bill, as passed by the House of Representatives late in 1949, contained provisions for the payment of disability insurance benefits under title II of the Social Security Act to permanently and totally disabled insured workers. In support of its action recommending such a program to the House of Representatives, the Committee on Ways and Means relied upon the recom-mendations of the 1948 Advisory Council. In the view of the committee, the program it recommended was conservative inasmuch as it: would only apply to those wage earners and self-employed persons who have been regular and recent members of the labor force and who can no longer continue gainful work.-11-

-11- H. Rept. No. 1300, 81st Cong., 1st sess. (1949), pp. 27 and 28.

The Senate, however, deleted the disability insurance provisions when it passed H.R. 6000. In its report on H.R. 6000, the Senate Committee on Finance expressed the following views on the disability insurance program: Your committee has not included permanent and total disability insurance or assistance provisions in the bill. We recognize that the problem of disabled workers is one which requires careful attention, especially because of the increasing proportion of older workers and the rising rate of chronic invalidity in the population. Moreover, the problem is not limited to the feasibility of providing income or pen-sions merely to maintain disabled workers. At least of equal signifi-cance is the need for assuring fullest use of rehabilitation facilities so that, disabled persons may be returned to gainful work, whenever this is possible. Your committee believes that the Federal Government should increase the grants-in-aid to the States for vocational rehabilitation and that further study should be made of the problem of income maintenance for permanently and totally disabled persons? -12-