Doubt of the Benefit

Under Social Security regulations, workers with serious injuries, like the loss of two limbs, seldom have difficulty proving that they are entitled to disability payments. For those with other problems, including some types of mental instability, the rules say benefits should be paid if a review shows that these individuals are unable to work. But the Reagan Administration failed to follow the rules, says New York's Attorney General Robert Abrams, who sued the Social Security Administration on behalf of 4,000 mentally ill New Yorkers who were lopped from the rolls, plus an estimated 55,000 whose applications were rejected. Abrams' argument: the Social Security Administration denied benefits to applicants whose disabilities were not included on its Listing of Impairments (such as schizophrenics whose symptoms respond to medication)--in effect abandoning the additional test of whether or not the individuals could work.

Abrams won in federal court last January and was upheld last week on appeal. The ruling will have impact far beyond New York State. In nationwide reviews that ended last April, the Administration cut off benefits to one-third of the 1.2 million disability cases examined; some 40% of those cut off had their benefits restored following appeals. Currently, about 10% of all cases filed in U.S. federal courts concern disability benefits.