Basic (03-86)

DI 21501.165 New Hampshire APTD/AB State Plan

A. Blindness (ANB)

A person must have no vision or vision with correcting glasses which is so defective as to prevent the performance of ordinary activities for which eyesight is essential.

The allowable degree of vision is limited to central visual acuity of 20/200 (Snellen Measurement) or less in the better eye with correction or such limitation of the field of vision that the widest diameter of visual field subtends an angular distance not greater than 20 degrees.

NOTE: Exceptions to this definition of blindness may be made only when the Division's consulting ophthalmologist certifies that the applicant's vision with correcting glasses is so defective as to prevent the performance of ordinary activities for which eyesight is essential.

B. Permanent and total disability — definitions (2793)

“Permanently and Totally Disabled” means that the individual has some permanent physical or mental impairment, disease, or loss, or combination thereof, which substantially precludes him from engaging in useful occupations within his competence, such as holding a job or homemaking.

1. Permanently

“Permanently” is defined as being related to the duration of the medically verifiable and substantiated impairment, disease, or loss, or combination thereof, and refers specifically to a condition or state of health which is not likely to improve; respond to any known available and advisable therapeutic procedures; is not temporary or transient, and will continue indefinitely throughout the lifetime of the individual.

The above definition of “permanently” does not rule out the possibility of a subsequent change in the individual's condition or recovery resulting from the discovery of new drugs, or advances in medical or therapeutic treatment.

2. Available

“Available” means that treatment or therapeutic procedures, which a physician has prescribed to halt or arrest the progress of the condition(s), are available in this State, or in some other State, to which the individual can feasibly go to receive the treatment at his own expense or at the expense of the State, subject to pertinent regulations.

3. Advisable

“Advisable” means that the attending physician has determined that the individual can undergo certain therapeutic measures or treatment without danger to the individual's health and well-being.

4. Totally

“Totally” is defined primarily as the inability of the individual to engage in gainful and remunerative employment or to keep house if the individual was engaged in this occupation prior to the disability and did not have a history of gainful employment.

“Total” is not an absolute term and involves consideration in addition to those verified through medical findings. Such social factors as age, education, work experience, skills, training, activities required of the individual on the job or in the home, interest, native capabilities and abilities, extent to which the individual has adjusted to the impairment, disease, or combination thereof, and the availability of training and educational facilities should all be considered in determining totality of the disabling condition(s).

5. Gainful and remunerative employment

“Gainful and Remunerative Employment” as used herein is defined as being synonymous with “Gainful Occupation,” and “Useful Occupation,” and means productive activity, effort, or work, for which the individual receives monetary remuneration, and which adds to the economic wealth of society by producing goods or services to which the public attaches a monetary value.

6. Housekeeping

“Housekeeping” as used herein is defined as being synonymous with “homemaking” but is not a gainful and remunerative employment situation performed outside one's own home. Housekeeping as an occupation arises from the individual's own social situation as differentiated from an individual hired to perform domestic duties in a home maintained by others.


To Link to this section - Use this URL:
http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0421501165
DI 21501.165 - New Hampshire APTD/AB State Plan - 01/23/1990
Batch run: 04/22/2013
Rev:01/23/1990