Elder Law

Social Security Announces Nationwide Launch of Compassionate Allowances Initiative

By dvanar

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has launched a national rollout of the agency?s Compassionate Allowances initiative, a way to expedite the processing of disability claims for applicants whose medical conditions are so severe that their conditions obviously meet the SSA?s standards.

?Getting benefits quickly to people with the most severe medical conditions is both the right and the compassionate thing to do,? said Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security. ?This initiative will allow us to make decisions on these cases in a matter of days, rather than months or years.?

Social Security is launching this expedited decision process with a total of 50 conditions.  Over time, more diseases and conditions will be added.  A list of the first 50 impairments — 25 rare diseases and 25 cancers — can be found at Social Security Online - Compassionate Allowances.  The conditions are explained further in the Program Operations Manual System (POMS) at SSA - POMS: DI 23022.000 - Processing Quick Disability Determination (QDD) and Compassionate Allowance (CAL) in the Disability Determination Services (DDS).

 The Compassionate Allowances process can be used at any stage of the administrative process. As a result, if a claimant is finally diagnosed with one of the 50 conditions after the initial application is filed, the case should be flagged at the point for fast-track processing.

Source: National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives’ monthly publication, the Social Security Forum

Full post as published by Law Office of Donald D. Vanarelli Blog on January 02, 2009 (boomark / email).