Compassionate Allowances program speeds SSDI approval for severely ill

April 10, 2014 (Press-News.org) Compassionate Allowances program speeds SSDI approval for severely ill

Article provided by The Law Office of Arthur W. Boyce
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A person with a catastrophic or fatal disease or injury is likely to be unable to work and is probably eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits or SSDI. SSDI is the federal government's disability insurance program that pays a monthly benefit to those who meet the definition of disability and who have sufficiently contributed through payroll deductions over the years to have earned coverage.

According to a brochureby the Social Security Administration or SSA, an initial SSDI application can take three to five months for the agency to process.

Further, if the initial Social Security Disability application is denied and appeal is warranted, it can take significantly longer to reach a favorable outcome, as there are several possible levels of review, including a potential administrative hearing before an administrative law judge or ALJ. Most likely, for someone with a devastating illness, this kind of waiting period for benefits will cause severe personal and financial challenges, including the possibility of death before the application is resolved.

Compassionate Allowances

Accordingly, in 2008 SSA established the Compassionate Allowances program, also called CAL, to fast track SSDI applications for people whose medical conditions are so obviously disabling that once the agency has the objective medical evidence and other proofs of eligibility, the applications can be very quickly approved.

In fact, on its website, SSA says that CAL applications may be decided "in a matter of weeks instead of months or years."

SSDI applications for people with CAL medical conditions are not separate from other applications; they are flagged as CAL in the intake process. However, SSA does not require CAL applicants to provide detailed information about past work because of their obviously disabling conditions.

CAL conditions

Since the first in 2007, SSA has held a total of seven public hearings on various types of severe medical impairments to assist the agency in identifying appropriate CAL conditions. In a Jan. 14, 2014, press release, the agency's acting commissioner announced the addition of 25 new medical conditions to the CAL program, bringing the total on the CAL list to 225. Several of the new conditions are serious types of cancer; the others include those "that affect the digestive, neurological, immune, and multiple body systems."

The SSA press release also says that "almost 200,000 people with severe disabilities" have had their applications approved through the CAL process.

Legal counsel can provide important support and assistance

Disability for federal SSDI purposes means that a severe medical impairment or combination of impairments expected to last at least a year or result in death prevents an otherwise eligible claimant from engaging in "substantially gainful activity," meaning previous work or other kinds of available work.

Anyone who is unable to work at all or who works very little because of his or her medical impairments should speak with an experienced SSDI attorney about eligibility and filing an application. A knowledgeable disability lawyer can assist with the initial application and at any level of review or appeal. If a person has a particularly devastating disease or injury, the condition may be on the CAL list, which should significantly expedite the application processing time.