Compassionate Allowances Program Expanded

When you are diagnosed with a disabling medical condition and you begin the process of seeking benefits through the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program, you will normally need to wait a period of five months before you receive your initial SSDI payment. That five-month waiting period is standard, and it applies to SSDI applicants. However, in some cases, applicants with terminal medical conditions and very serious conditions may be eligible for something known as the Compassionate Allowances program. The Compassionate Allowances program lists certain medical conditions for eligibility, and according to a recent news release from the Social Security Administration (SSA), that list of conditions was recently expanded. With the expansion, there are 12 additional Compassionate Allowances conditions.

Our national disability benefit lawyers can tell you more about the Compassionate Allowances program, the previously listed conditions, and the expansion of the conditions as of August 2023.

What is the Compassionate Allowances Program?

According to the SSA, the “Compassionate Allowances program quickly identifies claims where the applicant’s medical condition or disease clearly meets Social Security’s statutory standard for disability.” The idea is that, for certain people with disabling medical conditions, it is not feasible to go through the five-month waiting period because of the severity of the condition and need for benefits sooner, or because the person may not live through the five-month waiting period. As the SSA underscores, “due to the severe nature of many of these conditions, these claims are often allowed based on medical confirmation of the diagnosis alone.”

The Compassionate Allowances program reduces the waiting time for a person with one of the conditions. The SSA defines it as an “accelerated” process for receiving disability benefits. Currently, as of August 2023, there are approximately 900,000 people with disabilities who have been approved for SSDI benefits through the Compassionate Allowances program.

Compassionate Allowances and the Added Conditions

With the addition of the 12 new conditions, there are a total of 278 conditions that make a person eligible for the Compassionate Allowances program. The SSA explains that the conditions “primarily include certain cancers, adult brain disorders, and a number of rare disorders that affect children.”

The new conditions include the following:

• 1p36 Deletion Syndrome;
• Anaplastic Ependymoma;
• Calciphylaxis;
• Cholangiocarcinoma;
• FOXG1 Syndrome;
• Leber Congenital Amaurosis;
• Metastatic Endometrial Adenocarcinoma;
• Paraneoplastic Cerebellar Degeneration;
• Pineoblastoma — Childhood;
• Primary Omental Cancer;
• Sarcomatoid Carcinoma of the Lung — Stages II-IV; and
• Trisomy 9.

To determine whether your medical condition qualifies you for the Compassionate Allowances program and receiving accelerated SSDI benefits, you should talk with a national disability benefits attorney and your health care providers.

Contact a National Disability Benefits Attorney 

Applying for disability benefits can be an anxiety-inducing process, but you should know that an experienced national SSDI benefits lawyer at the Law Offices of Stephen Barszcz can assist you every step of the way. Whether you have questions about an initial application or the Compassionate Allowances program, or you have already applied for benefits and need help with an appeal or reconsideration, our firm is here to assist you. We have years of experience assisting disabled adults with SSDI cases, and we can speak with you today.

Sources:

blog.ssa.gov/social-security-administration-expedites-decisions-for-people-with-severe-disabilities/#:~:text=Kilolo%20Kijakazi%2C%20Acting%20Commissioner%20of,Endometrial%20Adenocarcinoma%2C%20Paraneoplastic%20Cerebellar%20Degeneration%2C

ssa.gov/compassionateallowances/