Compassionate Allowance Can Provide Social Security Disability Benefits Quickly

By Thomas Greer | November 3, 2015

Memphis Social Security Disability LawyersFor applicants who are very sick and whose medical condition clearly meets Social Security Administration disability standards, there is a program called Compassionate Allowance. The Compassionate Allowance program started in 2008, and is not separate from the Social Security Disability program; rather, it represents a streamlined approach to getting benefits approved quickly based on the minimum objective medical information that can be obtained quickly.

When a person applies for SSD benefits in Tennessee, it can take many months and even years before they get approved. The SSA created the Compassionate Allowances program with an original list of 50 disabling medical conditions that would be eligible to receive an expedited consideration if the applicant meets the criteria in the compassionate allowances guidelines. If the applicant meets the criteria and submits all of the required documentation they could begin to receive SSD benefits in just a few weeks. The original list of 50 disabling conditions has now grown to more than 200 conditions that qualify.

Here are just a few of the more than 200 disabling medical conditions that qualify an applicant for the program:

  • Adrenal Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
  • Adult Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
  • Bladder Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
  • Breast Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
  • Chronic Idiopathic Intestinal Pseudo Obstruction
  • Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) – Blast Phase
  • Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
  • Fulminant Giant Cell Myocarditis
  • Gallbladder cancer
  • Head and Neck Cancers – with distant metastasis or inoperable or unresectable
  • Heart Transplant Graft Failure
  • Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC)
  • Juvenile Onset Huntington Disease
  • Kidney Cancer – inoperable or unresectable
  • Malignant Melanoma – with metastases
  • Malignant Multiple Sclerosis
  • Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer – with metastases to or beyond the hilar nodes or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
  • Obliterative Bronchiolitis
  • Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma
  • Thyroid Cancer
  • Walker Warburg Syndrome

(For a complete list of conditions see the SSA website.)

There is no special application process for Compassionate Allowances. You simply apply for disability benefits, and if your application qualifies, it will be considered for the Compassionate Allowances program.

If you have submitted your SSD claim and you have a condition that is listed on the compassionate allowances list, but you have not heard anything about your application within a month you can contact your local Social Security office to ask about the status of your claim. Working with an experienced Memphis Social Security Disability attorney will help make sure that you have an advocate who will protect your rights throughout the entire process.

Contact a West Tennessee SSD attorney at the law firm of Bailey & Greer PLLC today to discuss your compassionate allowance case. We are ready to be a strong advocate for you and do whatever we can to help you obtain expedited disability benefits. We have offices in Memphis and Jackson to better serve you.

Posted in Blog, Social Security Disability