The Social Security Administration is adding 38 more diseases to its Compassionate Allowances program, which allows those diagnosed with specific conditions to have their claims for benefits expedited.
The original 50 conditions – 25 cancers and 25 rare diseases – were announced in October 2008, and the list allows the agency to electronically search for and make speedy decisions for “the most obviously disabled individuals,” SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue said in a Feb. 11 news release.
The new conditions include early-onset Alzheimer’s and several forms of muscular dystrophy. SSA will begin electronically identifying these 38 new conditions March 1.
Said Astrue:
The addition of these new conditions expands the scope of Compassionate Allowances to a broader subgroup of conditions like early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. The expansion we are announcing today means tens of thousands of Americans with devastating disabilities will now get approved for benefits in a matter of days rather than months and years.”
SSA worked with several federal agencies and advocacy groups in expanding the Compassionate Allowances program, including the National Institutes of Health, the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Organization for Rare Disorders.
For more information on the Compassionate Allowances, click here.
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I read about the additional SSA expands — but when I want to the next page, it said not here. My son has been waiting over three years for his claim to be approved and they keep turning him down. He has enough wrong with him that he should have been approved from the beginning.