What Are the Social Security Administration’s Compassionate Allowances?

Did you know that there are 100 diseases and medical conditions that may qualify you or a loved one to receive Social Security disability benefits more quickly than other applicants–without having to go through the often-taxing and long-lasting application process?

It’s true.

Per the agency: “Compassionate Allowances (CAL) are a way of quickly identifying diseases and other medical conditions that invariably qualify under the Listing of Impairments based on minimal objective medical information. Compassionate Allowances allow Social Security to quickly target the most obviously disabled individuals for allowances based on objective medical information that we can obtain quickly.”

The agency calls these conditions its ‘Compassionate Allowances Conditions’ and introduced them in December 2007. As recently as July, it added 12 new conditions to its Compassionate Allowances List (CAL). Each of the new listings pertains to a specific cardiovascular condition.

“We have an obligation to award benefits quickly to people whose medical conditions are so serious they clearly meet our disability standards,” said Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security. “We are now able to do precisely that for 100 severe conditions. By definition, these illnesses are so severe that we don’t need to fully develop the applicant’s work history to make a decision. As a result, Social Security has eliminated this part of the application process for people who have a condition on the list, and we can award benefits much more quickly.”

View the complete list of Compassionate Allowances conditions here.

Read more.

Which conditions do you think are missing from the Social Security Administration’s list of compassionate allowances? Are there any conditions that you think don’t belong on the list ?

If you need help with your Social Security Disability benefits, contact the Social Security Disability lawyers at Fleschner, Stark, Tanoos & Newlin.