Social Security announces new Compassionate Allowances conditions

Fast-track disability process will now include 200 conditions

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[December 08, 2012]  BALTIMORE -- Michael J. Astrue, commissioner of Social Security, announced Thursday that 35 additional Compassionate Allowances conditions are in effect, bringing the total number of conditions in the expedited disability process to 200.

Compassionate Allowances are a way to quickly identify diseases and other medical conditions that, by definition, meet Social Security's standards for disability benefits. The program fast-tracks disability decisions to ensure that Americans with the most serious disabilities receive their benefit decisions within days, instead of months or years. These conditions primarily include certain cancers, adult brain disorders and a number of rare disorders that affect children.

"We have achieved another milestone for the Compassionate Allowances program, reaching 200 conditions," Astrue said. "Nearly 200,000 people with severe disabilities nationwide have been quickly approved, usually in less than two weeks, through the program since it began in October 2008."

By definition, these conditions are so severe that Social Security does not need to fully develop the applicant's work history to make a decision. As a result, Social Security eliminated this part of the application process for people who have a condition on the list.

Social Security has conducted seven public hearings and worked with experts to develop the list of Compassionate Allowances conditions. The hearings also have helped the agency identify ways to improve the disability process for applicants with Compassionate Allowances conditions.

For more information on the Compassionate Allowances initiative, visit www.socialsecurity.gov/
compassionateallowances
.

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New Compassionate Allowances conditions:

  1. Adult non-Hodgkin lymphoma

  2. Adult-onset Huntington disease

  3. Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome

  4. Alveolar soft part sarcoma

  5. Aplastic anemia

  6. Beta thalassemia major

  7. Bilateral optic atrophy -- infantile

  8. Caudal regression syndrome -- Types III and IV

  9. Child T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma

  10. Congenital lymphedema

  11. De Sanctis-Cacchione syndrome

  12. Dravet syndrome

  13. Endometrial stromal sarcoma

  14. Erdheim-Chester disease

  15. Fatal familial insomnia

  16. Fryns syndrome

  17. Fulminant giant cell myocarditis

  18. Hepatopulmonary syndrome

  19. Hepatorenal syndrome

  20. Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome

  21. Leiomyosarcoma

  22. Malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumor

  23. Malignant germ cell tumor

  24. MECP2 duplication syndrome

  25. Menkes disease -- classic or infantile onset form

  26. NFU1 mitochondrial disease

  27. Non-ketotic hyperglcinemia

  28. Peritoneal mucinous carcinomatosis

  29. Phelan-McDermid syndrome

  30. Retinopathy of prematurity -- Stage V

  31. Roberts syndrome

  32. Severe combined immunodeficiency -- childhood

  33. Sinonasal cancer

  34. Transplant coronary artery vasculopathy

  35. Usher syndrome -- Type I

[Text from news release received from the Social Security Administration]

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