Official Summaries

Marriage Equality for Disabled Adults Act

This bill eliminates certain marriage-related criteria for individuals entitled to Social Security child’s benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

Specifically, the bill removes the requirement that individuals receiving Social Security child’s benefits be unmarried. Those eligible for Social Security child’s benefits generally include the minor children of eligible or deceased workers and disabled adult children (the disabled adult children of such workers for whom the onset of disability occurred before age 22). Under current law, child beneficiaries generally lose their benefits upon marriage to an individual who is not also eligible for Social Security benefits. 

With respect to SSI, the bill removes the requirement that couples who present themselves as married in their community be considered married for purposes of SSI eligibility. The bill also exempts SSI recipients who are disabled adult children, or who marry disabled adult children, from the general requirement that the income or resources of an SSI recipient’s spouse be considered in an eligibility determination.  

Further, married disabled adult children and their spouses who would otherwise be eligible for Medicaid in a state if they were unmarried must remain eligible for Medicaid regardless of their marriage. 

Current Full Text

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1389 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1389

    To secure the rights and dignity of marriage for Disabled Adult 
                   Children, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 14, 2025

   Mr. Panetta (for himself, Ms. Lofgren, Ms. Norton, Mr. Garcia of 
 California, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Pressley, and Mr. Nadler) introduced 
  the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and 
 Means, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a 
 period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To secure the rights and dignity of marriage for Disabled Adult 
                   Children, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Marriage Equality for Disabled 
Adults Act''.

SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF MARRIAGE RESTRICTION FOR DISABLED ADULT 
              CHILDREN.

    (a) In General.--Section 202(d) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 402(d)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ``was unmarried and'';
            (2) by amending paragraph (1)(D) to read as follows:
                    ``(D) the month in which such child dies;''; and
            (3) by striking paragraph (5).
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 202(s)(2) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
402(s)(2)) is amended by striking ``(d)(5),''.

SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF RULES TO DETERMINE MARITAL RELATIONSHIPS.

    (a) In General.--Section 1614(d) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1382c(d)) is amended by striking ``except that'' and all that 
follows through the end of the subsection and inserting ``except that 
if two individuals have been determined to be married under section 
216(h)(1) for purposes of title II they shall be considered (from and 
after the date of such determination or the date of their application 
for benefits under this title, whichever is later) to be married for 
purposes of this title.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Title XVI of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) in section 1611(e)(3)--
                    (A) by striking ``a husband and wife'' each place 
                it appears and inserting ``two married individuals''; 
                and
                    (B) by striking ``such husband and wife'' and 
                inserting ``such married individuals'';
            (2) in section 1614(b)--
                    (A) in the first sentence, by striking ``the 
                husband or wife of'' and inserting ``married to''; and
                    (B) in the second sentence, by striking ``husband 
                and wife'' and inserting ``married''; and
            (3) in section 1631(b)(1)(A)(i), by striking ``husband or 
        wife'' and inserting ``spouse''.

SEC. 4. INCOME AND RESOURCE DEEMING RULES.

    Section 1614(f) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1382c(f)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) of this subsection, for 
        purposes of determining eligibility for, and the amount of, 
        benefits for a married individual who is entitled to a child's 
        insurance benefit based on a disability under section 202(d), 
        or for the spouse of such an individual, the income and 
        resources of the one spouse is deemed to not include any income 
        or resources of the other spouse.''.

SEC. 5. RETENTION OF MEDICAID FOR CERTAIN MARRIED INDIVIDUALS.

    Section 1634 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1383(c)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) In the case of a State that exercises the option under 
section 1902(f), any individual who--
            ``(1) is a married individual who is entitled to a child's 
        insurance benefit based on a disability for any month under 
        section 202(d) or the spouse of such an individual; and
            ``(2) would be eligible for medical assistance under the 
        State plan approved under title XIX if the individual were 
        unmarried,
shall remain eligible for medical assistance under such plan for so 
long as the individual satisfies the criteria described in paragraphs 
(1) and (2).''.

SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the United States Congress that--
            (1) Disabled Adult Children, if married, should remain 
        eligible for all Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security 
        benefits under the same terms as they would if unmarried, 
        regardless of State of residence or State Medicaid law; 
        specifically, this legislation should not impact a Disabled 
        Adult Child's eligibility for any Medicaid services for which 
        they were eligible when unmarried;
            (2) regardless of marital status, eligibility of Disabled 
        Adult Children to receive Federal Medicare, Medicaid, and 
        Social Security benefits should not be impacted by any 
        ``holding out'' status as defined in section 1382c(d) of title 
        42, United States Code; and
            (3) Disabled Adult Children's eligibility for Social 
        Security Disability Insurance benefits should not be 
        conditioned on geographic location or residency in the United 
        States.
                                 <all>