On April 11, the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) made the welcome announcement that it would be adding 52 medical conditions to its Compassionate Allowances (“CAL”) program. CAL is an extremely helpful program that provides quick and much-needed financial assistance to disabled Americans facing severe medical conditions. Whereas the normally disability benefits process can take years (see Wednesday’s post discussing the average 800 day wait time for SSDI benefits), CAL speeds things up significantly. If you think you may be eligible, you may wish to contact a Tulsa OK Social Security Disability attorney.
The medical conditions that fall under CAL are those that the SSA has determined clearly qualify for disability benefits. The SSA periodically holds open forums and asks for comments from the public and health experts about what conditions it should add to the list. The list had previously included 113 conditions, but is set to grow to 165 once the new 52 conditions are officially added later this year on August 13.
The new conditions include several types of cancer and neurological and immune system disorders that affect both children and adults. A few of the conditions are:
- Alpers’ Disease
- Child Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
- Juvenile Onset Huntington Disease
- Perry Syndrome
- Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome
Each year about 60,000 disability benefits applicants qualify for the fast-track CAL process. Each time the SSA expands eligibility for CAL, everyone benefits – it speeds up the process both for applicants with CAL eligible conditions and those without, since there are fewer people in the waiting pool; it also reduces SSA costs, as CAL claims involve fewer people and resources to process.
Have you taken advantage of any special programs like Compassionate Allowances to speed up your disability benefits application?
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