Social Security Compassionate Allowances

Compassionate allowances (CAL) allow the Social Security Administration to quickly and expeditiously identify individuals who suffer from medical conditions/diseases which automatically satisfy disability requirements and qualify them for disability status under the listing of impairments established by the Social Security Administration. Compassionate allowances are a quick way to identify applicants for disability whose medical conditions are so severe that they obviously meet social security disability standards.

Individuals must be disabled in order to qualify for social security disability. The Social Security Administration is engaged in the ongoing process of compiling and updating a list of qualifiable conditions. These conditions automatically qualify individuals as disabled. The current list is primarily made up of rare diseases, certain cancers, and dementia disorders which are terminal or otherwise indicate that those who suffer from these conditions to be qualified to receive social security disability. That means individuals must not be able to perform any type of substantial gainful activity due to the disability and the disability itself must be expected to last a year or result in death. Social security compassionate allowances are granted for conditions/diseases which meet the above criteria.

There were, as of 2010, a total of 88 conditions which automatically qualified individuals for a compassionate allowance, but the Social Security Administration has been in the process of considering additional conditions which may also meet the standards for the granting of compassionate allowances. Those whose conditions are on the social security disability compassionate allowances list need to make sure that their applications for disability benefits clearly state this fact because the Social Security Administration has in place systems designed to automatically place those whose conditions are on the list and who qualify for compassionate allowances ahead of other applicants. The intent is to handle their applications as quickly and as expeditiously as possible. In fact, if your condition is on the list, and if you have not heard a reply in regard to your disability claim within one month of submitting the application, you should get in touch with your Social Security Administration office to inquire as to why the process has not been handled quickly as is SSA’s intent. You might want also to contact a social security disability attorney to help you set up your application and make certain that you are entered into the compassionate allowances program.

In October of 2008, the Social Security Administration announced its compassionate allowances initiative intended to speed and simplify the processing of disability claims for those individuals suffering from medical conditions so serious that there was no question as to whether or not the Social Security Administration’s standards for disability were met.

The list of conditions which qualify individuals for compassionate allowance began with 50, made up of 25 rare diseases and 25 cancers. Thirty-eight additional conditions were added by the Social Security Administration in 2010 making a total of 88 including cancers such as pleuralmesothelioma cancer contracted by exposure to asbestos fibers by workers at companies where the product was manufactured or by workers in industries where asbestos was used. Symptoms of mesothelioma regularly do not appear until as many as 30 years or more after initial exposure to asbestos fibers. The cancer is incurable especially since when discovered it has usually intensely progressed. Patients who have contracted mesothelioma who are unable to continue to work are now eligible to receive a decision as to whether they qualify for social security disability in as few as six to eight days.

The addition of 38 cancers and conditions to the compassionate allowance list involved the SSA holding public outreach hearings. The SSA also worked with the Alzheimer’s Association, the National Organization for Rare Disorders, the National Institutes for Health (NIH) and other concerned groups as well as conducted consultations with their own internal medical experts.

The announcement was made on July 14, 2011, in Washington, D.C. of the addition of 12 new medical conditions to the list of compassionate allowances. These 12 additional conditions make a total of 100 currently on the Social Security Administration’s list.

The complete list of conditions which comprise the Social Security Administration’s 100 compassionate allowances conditions can be found on the SSA website: www.socialsecurity-disability.org/compassionate-allowances. Those conditions which were most recently added include the following:

• Aortic Atresia
• Eisenmenger Syndrome
• Endomyocardial Fibrosis
• Heart Transplant Graft Failure
• Heart Transplant Waiting List—1A/1B
• Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
• Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD)
• Mitral Valve Atresia
• Primary Cardiac Amyloidosis
• Pulmonary Atresia
• Single Ventricle
• Tricuspid Atresia

Of those conditions/diseases on the compassionate allowances conditions list of 88 that preceded these additions, the following are some of the more common:

• Acute Leukemia
• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
• Anaplastic Adrenal Cancer with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
• Bladder Cancer with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
• Bone Cancer with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
• Breast Cancer with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
• Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML)
• Creutzfeldt—Jacob Disease (CJD)—adult
• Early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease
• Esophageal Cancer
• Gallbladder Cancer
• Head and Neck Cancers—with distant metastasis or inoperable or unresectable
• Hunter Syndrome—Type II
• Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC)
• Kidney Cancer—inoperable or unresectable
• Large Intestine Cancer
• Liver Cancer
• Merosin Deficient Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
• Mixed Dementia
• Mucosal Malignant Melanoma
• Non-small Cell Lung Cancer—with metastases to or beyond the hilar nodes or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
• Ovarian Cancer
• Pancreatic Cancer
• Peritoneal Mesothelioma
• Pleural Mesothelioma
• Primary progressive aphasia
• Small-cell Cancer of the Large Intestine, Ovary, Prostate, or Uterus
• Small Intestine Cancer
• Stomach Cancer
• Tay Sachs Disease
• Thyroid Cancer
• Ureter Cancer
• Zellweger Syndrome

Compassionate allowances as a way of quickly identifying medical conditions and diseases which clearly qualify for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income disability benefits allow the Social Security Administration to quickly electronically target the most obviously disabled individuals and deliver decisions in an expedient manner. With the list of conditions which automatically qualify individuals for compassionate allowance compiled and in place, including such diseases as asbestos-caused Pleural Mesothelioma and Alzheimer’s disease, those who suffer from serious, life-changing illness will have their application for disability process expedited. Individuals who suffer from diseases on the list such as Mesothelioma and Alzheimer’s disease will no longer have to endure the financial and emotional toll of a long decision process in determining whether or not a disability exists.