Simplifying Our Online Disability Insurance Application

Published: May 29, 2025

We just released a simpler online application for disability benefits — another step in modernizing California’s benefit programs and improving the customer experience.

“We’re simplifying California’s disability application to serve our customers better,” said EDD Director Nancy Farias. “We’re designing and delivering systems that are easier for everyone to understand and access.”  

Disability Insurance can be a complex public benefit program, with detailed eligibility requirements and required medical certifications. As a result, the application was often considered complex and confusing. In response, we asked customers, employees, and advocates for ideas to make the application easier. The new, online application includes:

• Revised instructions and questions that are easier to answer — using less technical terms.
• Help text with simple explanations right when they are needed.
• Reorganized questions to improve the overall application experience.
• Improved navigation through complex topics like the medical authorization and declaration signature pages.
• Relabeled page headings and titles to improve the customer experience.

For example, there are times when workers may want their benefits to start at a different time than when their actual disability began. But many customers said they had difficulty providing a date in response to, “Date you want your Disability Insurance claim to begin if different than the date your disability began.” This prompt has been replaced with a simpler, yes-or-no question, “Do you want your claim to start on a different date?” If yes, customers are then prompted to provide a date.

We reorganized the application and revised the headings to guide customers through the application process and gather all information needed for application review. Some customers didn’t realize that an application for disability benefits was not complete until a medical certification, also known as Part D – Physician/Practitioner’s Certification, was submitted to us. The updated online application includes more visible reminders at the beginning and end of the application process to help the customer understand this required step. 

These improvements, and many others, will help us process applications more quickly and pay customers faster.  

Our commitment to enhance the way Californians engage with its programs and services is all part of EDDNext, an ongoing modernization effort to completely transform the EDD customer and employee experience. EDDNext efforts include updating benefit applications, contact centers, the claims process, policies, procedures, and forms, to make the EDD experience easier and faster. It involves working with customer service experts, such as Amazon Web Services and Salesforce, to ensure EDDNext is forward-thinking and embraces the best technology and practices.

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