Social Security announces new Compassionate Allowances conditions

Fast-track disability process will now include 200 conditions

[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.

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]