Compassionate Allowances
Compassionate Allowances Speed Social Security Disability Decisions
Compassionate Allowances speed Social Security disability decisions to ensure that people with the most serious disabilities receive their benefits quickly, often within weeks. Recently, Social Security approved Compassionate Allowance benefits for nearly 61,000 people with these severe disabilities in the last year. Nearly 173,000 applications have been approved since the program began in 2008. As a frame of reference, there were about 225,000 new disability applications filed per month last year.
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The initiative identifies claims where the applicant’s disease or condition clearly meets the statutory standard for disability. With the aid of sophisticated technology, the agency can identify potential cases and then make decisions quickly.
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Some of the conditions include certain cancers, adult brain disorders, a number of rare genetic disorders of children, early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, immune system conditions, and other disorders (see below for a complete list).
The agency also is working to improve its online disability application process. They claim it is substantially shorter than the standard paper application. Adults filing for benefits online have had the option to electronically sign the entire disability application online. Our office is available to help you through this process. Even the online application process can be daunting to a sick person.
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Please let us know if we can talk to you on any of these processes. Missing something can add many months to the process. We can help compassionate allowance claims line up with all appropriate evidence, to make it easier for you.
Further resources
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SSA’s Compassionate Allowances website – This has a complete list of all conditions and how to expedite your claim:
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Adrenal Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
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Anaplastic Adrenal Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
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Bladder Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
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Breast Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
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Child Neuroblastoma – with distant metastases or recurrent
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Child Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma – recurrent
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Chondrosarcoma – with multimodal therapy
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Follicular Dendritic Cell Sarcoma – metastatic or recurrent
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Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), Picks Disease -Type A – Adult
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Head and Neck Cancers – with distant metastasis or inoperable or unresectable
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Hypophosphatasia Perinatal (Lethal) and Infantile Onset Types
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Kidney Cancer – inoperable or unresectable
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Large Intestine Cancer – with distant metastasis or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
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Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation – Types 1 and 2
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Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer – with metastases to or beyond the hilar nodes or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
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Osteosarcoma, formerly known as Bone Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
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Ovarian Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
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Small Cell Cancer (of the Large Intestine, Ovary, Prostate, or Uterus)
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Small Intestine Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
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Stomach Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
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Ureter Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent