SSA Adds New Medical Conditions to Compassionate Allowances List
Feb 15th, 2010 | By Sharon Shaw Elrod MSW EdD | Category: Social Security & MedicareThe 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:
- Alstrom Syndrome
- Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia
- Ataxia Spinocerebellar
- Ataxia Telangiectasia
- Batten Disease
- Bilateral Retinoblastoma
- Cri du Chat Syndrome
- Degos Disease
- Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
- Edwards Syndrome
- Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva
- Fukuyama Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
- Glutaric Acidemia Type II
- Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), Familial Type
- Hurler Syndrome, Type IH
- Hunter Syndrome, Type II
- Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
- Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa, Lethal Type
- Late Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses
- Leigh’s Disease
- Maple Syrup Urine Disease
- Merosin Deficient Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
- Mixed Dementia
- Mucosal Malignant Melanoma
- Neonatal Adrenoleukodystrophy
- Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses, Infantile Type
- Niemann-Pick Type C
- Patau Syndrome
- Primary Progressive Aphasia
- Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy
- Sanfilippo Syndrome
- Subacute Sclerosis Panencephalitis
- Tay Sachs Disease
- Thanatophoric Dysplasia, Type 1
- Ullrich Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
- Walker Warburg Syndrome
- Wolman Disease
- Zellweger Syndrome
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