SSA Approves New Compassionate Allowance Conditions

Social Security announced today the addition of 52 new Compassionate Allowances conditions, primarily involving neurological disorders, cancers and rare diseases. The Compassionate Allowances program fast-tracks disability decisions and is supposed to ensure that if you have one of the most serious disabilities that you will receive their benefit decisions within days instead of months or years.

SSA also noted that they “will continue to work with the medical community and patient organizations to add more conditions.” The Compassionate Allowances program has helped SSA approve “disability benefits for nearly 61,000 people with severe disabilities in the past fiscal year, and nearly 173,000 applications since the program began.”

The Compassionate Allowances initiative identifies claims where the nature of the applicant’s disease or condition clearly meets the statutory standard for disability. With the help of sophisticated new information technology, the agency can quickly identify potential Compassionate Allowances and then quickly make decisions.

Social Security launched the Compassionate Allowances program in 2008 with a list of 50 diseases and conditions. The announcement of 52 new conditions, effective in August, will increase the total number of Compassionate Allowances conditions to 165. The conditions include certain cancers, adult brain disorders, a number of rare genetic disorders of children, early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, immune system conditions, and other disorders.

As a New Orleans Social Security Disability attorney, I am glad to see additional conditions added to the compassionate allowances list. Hopefully, this will help those in most need of disability benefits get them sooner and with much less delay than going through the entire disability process, which can take months (in the best cases) to years (in the worst cases).

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with one of these conditions, you probably do not need a disability lawyer to help you get the benefits you need and paid for throughout your life. But, if you have questions or concerns, you should speak with an attorney familiar with Social Security Disability.

The 52 New Compassionate Allowance Conditions will be effective August 13, 2012. The complete list of Compassionate Allowance Conditions are:

1	Acute Leukemia
2	Adrenal Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
3	Aicardi-Goutieres Syndrome
4	Alexander Disease (ALX) – Neonatal and Infantile
5	Alobar Holoprosencephaly
6	Alpers Disease
7	Alpha Mannosidosis – Type II/III
8	ALS/Parkinsonism Dementia Complex
9	Alstrom Syndrome
10	Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia
11	Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
12	Anaplastic Adrenal Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
13	Angelman Syndrome
14	Aortic Atresia
15	Astrocytoma – Grade III and IV
16	Ataxia Telangiectasia
17	Batten Disease
18	Bilateral Retinoblastoma
19	Bladder Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
20	Breast Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
21	Canavan Disease (CD)
22	Carcinoma of Unknown Primary Site
23	Cerebro Oculo Facio Skeletal (COFS) Syndrome
24	Cerebrotendinous Xanthomatosis
25	Child Neuroblastoma
26	Child Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
27	Chondrosarcoma with multimodal therapy
28	Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) – Blast Phase
29	Cornelia de Lange Syndrome-Classic Form
30	Corticobasal Degeneration
31	Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) – Adult
32	Cri du Chat Syndrome
33	Degos Disease, Systemic
34	Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
55	Edwards Syndrome (Trisomy 18)
36	Eisenmenger Syndrome
37	Endomyocardial Fibrosis
38	Ependymoblastoma (Child Brain Tumor)
39	Esophageal Cancer
40	Ewings Sarcoma
41	Farber’s Disease (FD) – Infantile
42	Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva
43	Follicular Dendritic Cell Sarcoma with metastases
44	Friedreichs Ataxia (FRDA)
45	Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), Picks Disease -Type A – Adult
46	Fucosidosis – Type 1
34	Fukuyama Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
48	Galactosialidosis – Early Infantile Type
49	Gallbladder Cancer
50	Gaucher Disease (GD) – Type 2
51	Glioblastoma Multiforme (Adult Brain Tumor)
52	Glioma Grade III and IV
53	Glutaric Acidemia Type II (Neonatal)
54	Hallervorden-Spatz Disease
55	Head and Neck Cancers – with distant metastasis or inoperable or uresectable
56	Heart Transplant Graft Failure
57	Heart Transplant Wait List, 1A/1B
58	Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), Familial Type
59	Hepatoblastoma
60	Histiocytosis
61	Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome
62	Hydranencephaly
63	Hypocomplementemic Urticarial Vasculitis
64	Hypophosphatasia Perinatal lethal form
65	Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
66	I Cell disease
67	Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
68	Infantile Free Sialic Acid Storage Disease
69	Infantile Neuroaxonal Dystrophy (INAD)
70	Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses
71	Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC)
72	Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa, Lethal Type
73	Juvenile Onset Huntington Disease
74	Kidney Cancer – inoperable or unresectable
75	Krabbe Disease (KD) – Infantile
76	Kufs Disease Type A and B
77	Large Intestine Cancer – with distant metastasis or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
78	Late Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses
79	Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) Recipient
80	Leigh’s Disease
81	Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome (LNS)
82	Lewy Body Dementia
83	Lissencephaly
84	Liver Cancer
85	Lowe Syndrome
86	Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis Grade III
87	Malignant Brain Stem Glioma – Childhood
88	Malignant Melanoma with metastases
89	Malignant Multiple Sclerosis
90	Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL)
91	Maple Syrup Urine Disease
92	Mastocytosis Type IV
93	Medulloblastoma with metastasis
94	Merkel Cell Carcinoma with metastasis
95	Merosin Deficient Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
96	Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD) – Late Infantile
97	Mitral Valve Atresia
98	Mixed Dementias
99	MPS I, formerly known as Hurler Syndrome
100	MPS II, formerly known as Hunter Syndrome
101	MPS III, formerly known as Sanfilippo Syndrome
102	Mucosal Malignant Melanoma
103	Multicentric Castleman Disease
104	Multiple System Atrophy
105	Myocolonic Epilepsy and Ragged Red Fibers Syndrome
106	Neonatal Adrenoleukodystrophy
107	Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis
108	Niemann-Pick Disease (NPD) – Type A
109	Niemann-Pick Disease-Type C
110	Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer – with metastases to or beyond the hilar nodes or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
111	Obliterative Bronchiolitis
112	Ohtahara Syndrome
113	Ornithine Transcarbamylase (OTC) Deficiency
114	Orthochromatic Leukodystrophy with Pigmented Glia
115	Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) – Type II
116	Osteosarcoma, formerly known as Bone Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
117	Ovarian Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
118	Pancreatic Cancer
119	Paraneoplastic Pemphigus
120	Patau Syndrome (Trisomy 13)
121	Pearson Syndrome
122	Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease-Classic Form
123	Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease-Connatal Form
124	Peripheral Nerve Cancer – metastatic or recurrent
125	Peritoneal Mesothelioma
126	Perry Syndrome
127	Pleural Mesothelioma
128	Pompe Disease – Infantile
129	Primary Cardiac Amyloidosis
130	Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma
131	Primary Effusion Lymphoma
132	Primary Progressive Aphasia
133	Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy
134	Progressive Supranuclear Palsy
135	Pulmonary Atresia
136	Pulmonary Kaposi Sarcoma
137	Rett (RTT) Syndrome
138	Rhabdomyosarcoma
139	Rhizomelic Chondrodysplasia Punctata
140	Salivary Tumors
141	Sandhoff Disease
142	Schindler Disease Type 1
143	Single Ventricle
144	Small Cell Cancer (of the Large Intestine, Ovary, Prostate, or Uterus)
145	Small Cell Lung Cancer
146	Small Intestine Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
147	Smith Lemli Opitz Syndrome
148	Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) – Types 0 And 1
149	Spinal Nerve Root Cancer-metastatic or recurrent
150	Spinocerebellar Ataxia
151	Stiff Person Syndrome
152	Stomach Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
153	Subacute Sclerosis Panencephalitis
154	Tabes Dorsalis
155	Tay Sachs Disease – Infantile Type
156	Thanatophoric Dysplasia, Type 1
157	Thyroid Cancer
158	Tricuspid Atresia
159	Ullrich Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
160	Ureter Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
161	Walker Warburg Syndrome
162	Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome
163	Wolman Disease
164	Xeroderma Pigmentosum
165	Zellweger Syndrome

As a Louisiana Social Security Disability Attorney, I stand ready to help you with your questions concerning compassionate allowances.

Social Security Administration Approves New Compassionate Allowances For Disability Claimants