Many people who apply for Social Security Disability Insurance in Pennsylvania find the application process to be long and arduous. The U.S. Social Security Administration often faces delays in processing SSDI claims. If you are having a hard time getting by in the absence of SSDI payments, these delays may cause you stress and anxiety. However, if you have one of several types of medical conditions, your condition may warrant a “compassionate allowance.”
Per the SSA, the compassionate allowances program seeks to speed up processing time for SSDI applicants who have certain conditions that are severe enough o automatically meet the administration’s narrow definition of the term “disability.”
What conditions qualify for compassionate allowances
The SSA keeps a list of several hundred qualifying conditions on its website. Many types of brain disorders and fast-progressing cancers appear on the list. Some of them include esophageal cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer and certain forms of bladder or breast cancer. Having certain types of dementia also make you eligible for a compassionate allowance, as does having one of a number of rare syndromes, among other qualifying conditions.
What you have to do to get one
If you already have a condition that appears on the SSA’s compassionate allowances list, then you do not have to do anything special when you apply. The SSA’s own software should identify your condition as one that appears on the compassionate allowances list and process it as such. If your condition does not appear on the existing compassionate allowances database but you feel it should, you have the option of submitting the name of your condition for possible inclusion on the list.
