Social Security is aware that some conditions can severely impede your ability to work and even care for yourself. As a result, they have put together a compassionate allowance list of conditions that allows you to receive approval for Social Security Disability benefits sooner than people with other conditions.
Here at McGowan & Cecil LLC, we take the time to help you understand what the compassionate allowance list consists of, and how it works. According to Social Security, information received from several sources is used to determine whether a mental or physical condition qualifies as one that should be on the compassionate list. This information may come from scientific and medical experts, the National Institutes of Health and public outreach hearings.
The information must show that the disease or illness causes severe and obvious disability. Rare syndromes, cancers and other diseases are often given compassionate allowance status. While regular Alzheimer's disease does not qualify, early onset Alzheimer's disease is on the list. This condition affects people under retirement age and is nationally recognized as a condition that causes a regression in patients that can make them unable to control their body and lose their cognitive abilities. Other disabling conditions on the list include the following:
- Gallbladder cancer
- People on a wait list for a heart transplant
- Inflammatory breast cancer
- Joubert syndrome
- Liver cancer
In all, there are currently 225 conditions that are on the compassionate allowance status. People with a qualifying condition will need to provide information from their doctor that they have been diagnosed with the condition. Social Security states that once they have all the necessary documentation, a decision can be made within just a few weeks. If you have questions about an illness or medical condition and eligibility for SSD, you may find it helpful to visit our page.