U.S. to Reconsider Disability Benefits

The government Monday said it will notify more than 500,000 children who were denied Social Security disability benefits over the past 12 years that it is willing to reconsider their claims.

The youngsters may be due more than $2 billion in retroactive benefits to be paid out over the next five years, the Social Security Administration said.

The agency said it would start mailing notices Wednesday that would give the children 120 days to request that their past claims for Supplemental Security Income be reconsidered.

The action is the result of a Supreme Court ruling last year that said the government had unfairly limited SSI for poor, disabled children by applying tougher eligibility standards than those for adults.

The broadened standards could add as many as 37,000 children with severe physical and mental disabilities to the SSI rolls per year at an additional cost of $500 million a year, the agency estimates.