Brain Tumors and SSDI Benefits

If you or somebody you love recently received a brain cancer diagnosis, or if a brain tumor has been identified, it is important to learn about your options for receiving benefits. For primary brain cancers — meaning those that start in the brain, rather than brain cancers that occur as a result of a cancer spreading from another part of the body to the brain — treatments can be especially grueling, and the cancer may be incurable. Given that brain tumors affect the brain, they also tend to significantly limit a person’s ability to work while they are receiving long-term treatment and even afterward. Our national disability benefits attorneys can tell you more about seeking Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits after a brain cancer diagnosis.

Brain Cancer and Neurological Disorders in the Blue Book 

In order to be eligible to receive SSDI benefits, a person must meet two requirements. First, they must show that they have a disabling medical condition that is either expected to last for a year or longer or to result in their death, and that condition must prevent them from engaging in what the Social Security Administration (SSA) calls substantial gainful activity (i.e., meaningful employment). Then, second, the person must have worked for a long enough period of time and recently enough to have sufficient work credits for SSDI eligibility.

To assess the first part — the disability as the SSA defines it — the SSA will often turn to the Blue Book, which is an extensive and expansive listing of disorders that can qualify a person for SSDI benefits based on the medical circumstances. Section 11 of the Blue Book identifies eligible neurological conditions and disorders, including benign brain tumors (meaning those that are not cancerous) and certain types of brain injuries. The SSA also has a specific listing for Glioblastoma Multiforme, the most common type of primary brain cancer in adults. Other types of brain cancers can also commonly make a person eligible for SSDI benefits.

Compassionate Allowances Program 

Some medical conditions are so serious that a person with them may qualify for the SSA’s Compassionate Allowances program, which permits certain adults eligible for SSDI benefits to speed up their application and receive benefits sooner than the normal five-month waiting period. There are a wide range of cancers listed in the Compassionate Allowances “Conditions,” including multiple forms of brain cancer.

In addition to brain cancers that typically affect children, Glioblastoma Multiforme and Oligodendroglioma — both adult brain cancers — are identified as conditions for which a person diagnosed can be eligible for the Compassionate Allowances program.

Contact a National Disability Benefits Attorney Today for Assistance 

Applying for and being approved for SSDI benefits can be a complex process, but for disabled adults with serious conditions, it is also often an essential form of income. If you have any questions about seeking SSDI benefits after a cancer diagnosis or a diagnosis with any other life-changing illness, an experienced national SSDI benefits lawyer at the Law Offices of Stephen Barszcz can assist you. Contact us today to ask any questions you have and to begin receiving help with your SSDI application.

Sources:

ssa.gov/disability/professionals/bluebook/11.00-Neurological-Adult.htm

secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0423022185

ssa.gov/compassionateallowances/conditions.htm#G