SSA Adds New Compassionate Allowances

Recently the commissioner of Social Security, Michael Astrue, announced that starting August 13, 2012, 52 new diseases and conditions will be added to the list of Compassionate Allowances (CAL). This brings the total number of diseases and conditions that qualify for CAL from 113 to 165.

Social Security defines Compassionate Allowance as:

Compassionate Allowances (CAL) are a way of quickly identifying diseases and other medical conditions that invariably qualify under the Listing of Impairments based on minimal objective medical information. Compassionate Allowances allow Social Security to quickly target the most obviously disabled individuals for allowances based on objective medical information that we can obtain quickly.

SSA started this program back in 2008 with a list of 50 diseases and conditions. So how does SSA determine if a disease or condition qualifies for CAL? A couple different methods are utilized, such as public outreach hearings focused on conditions like early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular diseases and traumatic brain injury. SSA is also receptive to comments offered by those who work for Social Security and Disability Determination Services, as well as from medical and scientific experts. SSA also looks for diseases and conditions that are most likely to meet their definition of disability.

One of the main methods used to identify diseases and conditions that qualify for CAL is through research. The National Institute of Health has been the leader in this research and has identified many of the conditions on the list as a result. Earlier this year, eight research projects were approved through the Disability Determination Process Small Grant Program. This will involve graduate students who will utilize innovative research methods with focuses on topics such as CAL, the Wounded Warriors initiative, disability enrollment issues and more. Managed by Policy Research, Inc., the program is taking applications from grad students who are interested in this type of research. Applications can be found here:  http://www.policyresearchinc.org/projects/ddp_grant.shtml.

Below is the list of the newly-added CAL diseases and conditions. For the complete list, please visit: http://www.ssa.gov/compassionateallowances/conditions.htm

Aicardi-Goutieres Syndrome

Alobar Holoprosencephaly

Alpers Disease

Alpha Mannosidosis

Carcinoma of Unknown Primary Site

Cerebrotendinous Xanthomatosis

Child Neuroblastoma

Child Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Chondrosarcoma with multimodal therapy

Cornelia de Lange Syndrome-Classic Form

Ewings Sarcoma

Follicular Dendritic Cell Sarcoma with metastases

Fucosidosis - Type 1

Galactosialidosis - Early Infantile Type

Glioma Grade III and IV

Hallervorden-Spatz Disease

Hepatoblastoma

Histiocytosis

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome

Hydranencephaly

Hypocomplementemic Urticarial Vasculitis

Hypophosphatasia Perinatal lethal Form

I Cell disease

Infantile Free Sialic Acid Storage Disease

Juvenile Onset Huntington Disease

Kufs Disease Type A and B

Lissencephaly

Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis Grade III

Malignant Brain Stem Gliomas - Childhood

Malignant Melanoma with metastases

Mastocytosis Type IV

Medulloblastoma with metastasis

Merkel Cell Carcinoma with metastases

Myocolonic Epilepsy and Ragged Red Fibers Syndrome

Written by Anna Westfall & Attorney Andrew November

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