The Social Security Administration last week announced the addition of 38 more conditions to its list of Compassionate Allowances. The original list of 50 conditions was first posted in October 2008. Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, made the announcement, adding, “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.”

The purpose of the Compassionate Allowances list is to speed approval of applications for disability benefits from the Social Security Administration. If you are diagnosed with one of the afflictions, your application for disability benefits gets rushed to the top of the list. Many medical issues qualify an individual for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits; Compassionate Allowances are a way of quickly identifying specific medical issues that clearly qualify for benefits. It allows the agency to electronically target and make speedy decisions for the most obviously disabled individuals.

A variety of national organizations were included in making decisions about which diseases would be added to the list, including the National Institutes of Health, Alzheimer’s Association, National Organization for Rare Disorders. Commissioner Astrue said the Social Security Administration would continue to hold hearings and look for additional medical conditions that can be added to the list of Compassionate Allowances.

The Social Security Administration will begin electronically identifying these 38 new conditions March 1:

1. Alstrom Syndrome
2. Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia
3. Ataxia Spinocerebellar
4. Ataxia Telangiectasia
5. Batten Disease
6. Bilateral Retinoblastoma
7. Cri du Chat Syndrome
8. Degos Disease
9. Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
10. Edwards Syndrome
11. Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva
12. Fukuyama Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
13. Glutaric Acidemia Type II
14. Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), Familial Type
15. Hurler Syndrome, Type IH
16. Hunter Syndrome, Type II
17. Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
18. Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa, Lethal Type
19. Late Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses
20. Leigh’s Disease
21. Maple Syrup Urine Disease
22. Merosin Deficient Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
23. Mixed Dementia
24. Mucosal Malignant Melanoma
25. Neonatal Adrenoleukodystrophy
26. Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses, Infantile Type
27. Niemann-Pick Type C
28. Patau Syndrome
29. Primary Progressive Aphasia
30. Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy
31. Sanfilippo Syndrome
32. Subacute Sclerosis Panencephalitis
33. Tay Sachs Disease
34. Thanatophoric Dysplasia, Type 1
35. Ullrich Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
36. Walker Warburg Syndrome
37. Wolman Disease
38. Zellweger Syndrome