The Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs both offer benefits to individuals with disabilities that prevent them from working. The process for obtaining these benefits can be complicated and often takes a bit of time, which is why the Compassionate Allowance list exists.
The conditions listed on the Compassionate Allowances include disorders, diseases or injuries that clearly fit the requirements for eligibility under the SSDI or SSI programs. In these cases, any delay in the process could prove extremely costly to the applicant. Thus, those that qualify under these standards have their application fast-tracked for approval. Since it was developed, there have been approximately 200,000 individuals approved.
That number will likely increase with the recent addition of 25 new conditions to the list. These conditions include Angiosarcoma, Liposarcoma, Pallister-Killian Syndrome, Revesz Syndrome, Small Cell Cancer of the Thymus, Soft Tissue Sarcoma, X-Linked Lymphoproliferative Disease and Myotubular Myopathy and 17 others.
With the addition of these 25 conditions, the total number on the list now adds up to 225 conditions. Carolyn W. Colvin, Acting Commissioner of Social Security made the announcement on Thursday, Jan. 16. Colvin said that the SSA “is dedicated to providing vulnerable Americans with faster access to disability benefits through our Compassionate Allowances program.”
The SSA isn’t the only party “dedicated to providing vulnerable Americans with faster access to disability benefits.” Disability attorneys in Los Angeles work hard to put their individual client’s interests first, helping ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible in their effort to obtain benefits.
Source: Senior Journal, “New Compassionate Allowance Conditions Added by Social Security for SSI, SSDI Programs,” Jan. 16, 2014