List of diseases exempt from waiting period for receiving disability benefits extended

The Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the Ministry of Health updated the list of diseases that exempt the insured under the General Regime of Social Security (RGPS) from the requirement of 12 monthly contributions to access disability benefits. Two more diseases were included in MTP/MS Interministerial Ordinance No. 22, published in the Federal Official Gazette on August 31; stroke (acute) and acute abdomen.

With the update, the list now includes 17 diseases and illnesses that exempt the insured from the waiting period:

  1. Active tuberculosis
  2. Hansen’s disease
  3. Severe mental disorder, provided that it is associated to self-alienation
  4. Malignant neoplasm
  5. Blindness
  6. Irreversible and incapacitating paralysis
  7. Severe cardiopathy
  8. Parkinson’s disease
  9. Ankylosing spondylitis
  10. Severe nephropathy
  11. Advanced stage of Paget’s disease (osteitis deformans)
  12. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
  13. Exposure to radiation, based on the conclusion of specialized medicine
  14. Severe hepatopathy
  15. Multiple sclerosis
  16. Stroke (acute)
  17. Acute abdomen

The new list will come into force as of October 3, 2022. The insured will only be exempt from the wait-time limit if the disease is diagnosed after joining the RGPS.

As a rule, the insured under the RGPS that needs to access the temporary disability benefit or the retirement due to permanent disability must prove, besides the inability to work, a period of 12 monthly contributions, with a few exceptions. Among them are accidents, occupational or work-related diseases, and the illnesses or conditions specified in the list published in the Ordinance.

The technical procedures to be considered for proving the diseases and illnesses listed in the Ordinance will be arranged and updated in a specific manual to be published soon by the MTP’s Sub-Secretariat of Federal Medical Expertise.