For people living with rare and severe health conditions, getting fast-tracked access to Social Security disability benefits can mean the difference between life and death. Each year, the Social Security Administration (SSA) typically announces additions to its list of medical conditions that will qualify a patient for a more rapid approval of disability benefits through its Compassionate Allowances program.
This past month, the SSA expanded its Compassionate Allowances list by the following nine additional conditions:
- Bainbridge-Ropers Syndrome
- Costello Syndrome
- Adult Heart Transplant Wait List – Status Levels 1-4
- Child Heart Transplant Wait List – Status Levels 1A/1B
- Histiocytic Malignancies
- Histiocytosis Syndromes
- Neonatal Marfan Syndrome
- PACS1 Syndrome
- Plasmablastic Lymphoma
- Renal Medullary Carcinoma
- Snijders Blok-Campeau Syndrome
“I am steadfastly committed to reducing the amount of time people wait to receive a decision on their disability claim, and we are making progress,” SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley said in a recent news release. “Compassionate Allowances helps in this effort by accelerating the disability application process for people who are likely to get approved for benefits due to the severity of their medical condition.”
The SSA’s Compassionate Allowances program now includes 287 conditions.