Many folks who experience chronic illness or permanent disability seek the support of Social Security disability (SSD) benefits to help keep them financially afloat. Obtaining these benefits, however, can take awhile due to the time consuming application process. What people may not know is that the Social Security Administration (SSA) offers a fast-track option for individuals who have an illness or disability that clearly meets the disability standards.
Compassionate allowances, or CALs, are medical conditions that are clearly serious enough to meet the SSA's disability requirements. Applicants falling under this category can then receive Social Security disability benefits much sooner, without going through the full disability determination process.
Last year, the SSA fast-tracked over 100,000 cases and predicts that it will process 150,000 this year. The SSA runs applications through computer software that identifies illnesses and disabilities on an applicant's paperwork that obviously qualify for benefits. Once identified, the administration can fast-track those applicants and get them their benefits more quickly.
The SSA is constantly revising its list of illness and disabilities that qualify for a CAL. This summer, it added 12 new illnesses, all heart-related, to the list of covered conditions, rounding out the complete list to 100.
Some of the conditions qualifying for CALs include various types of cancers, genetic syndromes and some serious birth defects. Some of the newly added heart diseases include aortic atresia, Eisenmenger Syndrome, endomyocardial fibrosis and heart transplant graft failure. Individuals on waiting lists for a heart transplant are also included.
For those whose lives are dramatically affected by serious illness or disability, compassionate allowances can provide readily available funds to cover expenses incurred while the applicant is sick. If you or a loved one has recently been diagnosed with a serious illness, you may be eligible for a compassionate allowance through the Social Security Administration.
