Applicants for Social Security Disability payments frequently face a protracted approval procedure that might last months. The Social Security Administration recognized this and created the Compassionate Allowance Initiative. The initiative’s objective is to discover debilitating conditions that automatically qualify an individual for Social Security Disability benefits. If a person is diagnosed with one of these illnesses, he or she fits the Social Security criterion of disability automatically.
Although having one of the medical conditions listed on the compassionate allowance list does not automatically qualify you for Social Security Disability benefits (you must still be an insured worker under SSDI and meet the income requirements for SSI), eliminating the delay associated with establishing that your medical condition meets Social Security’s requirements under its Blue Book listings and confirming its severity significantly speeds up the application process.
Confirmation of a disabling diagnosis under this effort may result in quick approval of disability benefits, sometimes within days. This is critical since these diseases are frequently aggressive enough to result in mortality within a very short period of time, although not all of the ailments on the list are necessarily fatal.
Additionally, the Compassionate Allowance Initiative established the Quick Disability Determination Procedure, which details the protocols that state DDS agencies must follow when evaluating claims submitted under the initiative.
In contrast to the Compassionate Allowances Initiative, the Quick Disability Determination process is not based on a list of specific medical problems.
Rather than that, it considers a number of criteria to ascertain the chance that an application will qualify for Social Security Disability benefits. A high score in this process indicates that your application is likely to be approved.
Both the Quick Disability Determination and Compassionate Allowances processes identify qualifying candidates through the use of computer modeling technologies.
At the moment, around 4% of applications received are eligible. Once your Social Security Disability application is complete, it is electronically forwarded to the DDS office in your state, where it is analyzed by computer to determine whether your illness qualifies for the Quick Disability Determination process or the Compassionate Allowance Initiative.
The computer program searches your application for specific information, such as the name of your diagnosed medical condition, the kind and dosage of drugs you are taking, and personal information such as your age, education, and job history. If your application suggests a likelihood of approval, it is flagged and directed to DDS examiners who will expeditiously consider your claim.
If you have a medical condition listed on the Compassionate Allowances list, it is considered that your illness is sufficiently severe that you will qualify for disability benefits solely on the basis of a verified diagnosis.
When you submit your original application, applications that qualify for the Compassionate Allowances Initiative are also recognized and accelerated. In these instances, the computer model simply identifies the condition’s name, popular synonyms, and/or acronyms.
The first list of fifty automatically qualifying medical conditions for compassionate allowances was adopted in 2008. In 2010, thirty-eight additional medical disorders were added to the list of qualifying conditions for compassionate allowance. The list was compiled based on public hearings, public discussion, Social Security and DDS personnel input, and medical and scientific community recommendations. The list has grown to include over 200 illnesses and disabilities.