Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 68 Part 1.djvu/1112

 1080

Ante, p. 1065.

42 USC 416.

PUBLIC LAW 7 6 1 - S E P T. 1, 1954

[68

STAT.

a quarter of coverage, and any wages paid in any such quarter shall not be counted." (3) Section 215(e) of such Act (as amended by section 102(e) (1) of this Act) is amended by adding after paragraph (3) the following new paragraph: "(4) in computing an individual's average monthly wage, there shall not be taken into account (A) any wages paid such individual in any quarter any part of which was included in a period of disability unless such quarter was a quarter of coverage, or (B) any self-employment income of such individual for any taxable year all of which was included in a period of disability." (d) Section 216 of the Social Security Act is amended by adding after subsection (h) the following new subsection: "Disability; Period of Disability

'Blindness.

"Period of disability. "

" (i)(1) The term 'disability' means (A) inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or to be of long-continued and indefinite duration, or (B) blindness; and the term 'blindness' means central visual acuity of 5/200 or less in the better eye with the use of a correcting lens. An eye in which the visual field is reduced to five degrees or less concentric contraction shall be considered for the purpose of this paragraph as having a central visual acuity of 5/200 or less. An individual shall not be considered to be under a disability unless he furnishes such proof of the existence thereof as may be required. Nothing in this title shall be construed as authorizing the Secretary or any other officer or employee of the United States to interfere in any way with the practice of medicine or with relationships between practitioners of medicine and their patients, or to exercise any supervision or control over the administration or operation of any hospital. "(2) The term 'period of disability' means a continuous period of not less than six full calendar months (beginning and ending as hereinafter provided in this subsection) during which an individual was under a disability (as defined in paragraph (1)). No such period shall begin as to any individual unless such individual, while under a disability, files an application for a disability determination with respect to such period; and no such period shall begin as to any individual after such individual attains retirement age. Except as provided in paragraph (4), a period of disability shall begin— " (A) if the individual satisfies the requirements of paragraph (3) on such day, " (i) on the day the disability began, or "(ii) on the first day of the one-year period which ends with the day before the day on which the individual files such application, whichever occurs later; " (B) if such individual does not satisfy the requirements of paragraph (3) on the day referred to in subparagraph (A), then on the first day of the first quarter thereafter in which he satisfies such requirements. A period of disability shall end with the close of the last day of the first month in which either the disability ceases or the individual attains retirement age. No application for a disability determination which is filed more than three months before the first day on which a period of disability can begin (as determined under this paragraph) shall be accepted as an application for purposes of this paragraph, and no such application which is filed prior to January 1, 1955, shall be accepted.

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