Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey introduced the Stop the Wait Act of 2026 in mid-September, a bill that targets the two waiting periods built into the Social Security disability program: the five-month wait for cash benefits after disability onset, and the 24-month wait for Medicare coverage that begins after a person is found eligible for cash benefits. The proposal joins a cluster of bipartisan bills — including the We Can't Wait Act aimed at hearing-level delays — that have piled up in Congress as the disability backlog has stretched into its seventh visible year. The Stop the Wait Act targets a different part of the pipeline, and the changes it proposes would land directly on the experience of newly approved claimants rather than on the speed of the hearing itself. ## Why the two waits exist The five-month waiting period for SSDI cash benefits is statutory, not regulatory, and dates back decades. The original reasoning was to distinguish long-term disability from short-term work interruptions, but in practice the wait means that a claimant found disabled on the day they apply does not receive a first payment until the sixth full month of disability has passed. For claimants whose conditions resolve or improve in less than five months, the wait functions as a built-in denial. For claimants whose conditions are clearly long-term, it functions as an interest-free loan from the disabled person to the federal government. The 24-month Medicare waiting period is layered on top. Once a claimant is found eligible for SSDI cash benefits, they are enrolled in Medicare, but coverage does not begin until 24 months after the cash benefit entitlement date. That puts the earliest realistic Medicare start at roughly 29 months from disability onset, and the wait falls hardest on people whose conditions require expensive ongoing treatment: dialysis, certain cancer therapies, immunosuppressants after organ transplant, and the like. People who cannot afford private insurance during those two years often end up on Medicaid through a separate pathway, in charity care, or simply without regular treatment. ## What the bill would change The Stop the Wait Act proposes to eliminate the five-month cash waiting period entirely and to shorten the Medicare waiting period from 24 months to a much shorter window, with early coverage options for claimants whose conditions are on the Compassionate Allowances list or who have a documented need for ongoing high-cost treatment. The Medicare change will matter more than the cash change, because the 24-month gap is the part of the process that produces the most financial damage for newly approved claimants. The bill does not change the SSA's definition of disability, the work-history requirements, or the appeals process — a denied claim still moves through reconsideration, hearing, Appeals Council, and federal court in the same order. ## Where the bill stands The bill was introduced in the Senate in mid-September and referred to the Committee on Finance, which has jurisdiction over Social Security. As of early October, it has not been scheduled for markup and no companion House bill has been introduced. That is the normal state for a freshman proposal in a crowded Congress, and it does not mean the bill is dead. It does mean that claimants should not expect any change to their wait this year or next. The two-year Medicare gap and the five-month cash gap remain in effect for every claim decided under current law. ## What this means for claimants whose cases are pending For a claimant whose SSDI application is still working its way through the initial decision or the appeals stage, the bill's introduction changes nothing about how the case will be processed. The waits remain. The only practical effect of the bill right now is symbolic: it confirms that members of Congress are aware of the waits, that the issue has been formally proposed, and that the disability community has a path to weigh in during the committee process. Claimants who want to weigh in should contact their own senators and representative — particularly members of the Finance Committee or the House Ways and Means Committee — and share a concrete personal account of how the waits affected their finances or their medical care. Committee offices pay attention to first-person accounts during the markup stage, and a small number of well-told stories can move a bill from hearing to vote. ## What claimants should do in the meantime Until the bill moves, the most useful preparation is unchanged. Claimants should make sure their medical evidence is complete, that treating source statements address the SSA's specific functional criteria, and that they respond quickly to every request for information from the agency. The fastest way to shorten the wait, in the absence of statutory change, is to present a record the adjudicator can approve without sending the case back for development. For the Medicare gap, claimants with conditions that require expensive ongoing treatment should look into Medicaid eligibility in their state, into manufacturer patient-assistance programs for the specific drugs they need, and into the Medicare Savings Programs available to people with limited income. Claimants whose conditions are on the Compassionate Allowances list should confirm the flag was applied at the initial decision stage, because CAL processing can shorten the overall path to entitlement by weeks even when the post-entitlement waits remain.