Social Security begins first phase of Compassionate Allowances initiative

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Social Security begins first phase of Compassionate Allowances initiative

By Russ

Special to the Tribune-Star

December 01, 2008 06:36 pm

— Social Security is making the disability process much faster for

people with rare diseases and cancers.

That’s because Social Security has begun the first phase of its

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 Social Security’s standards.

The improvements to the disability determination process are the result

of a series of public hearings in which J. Astrue, commissioner

of Social Security, received information from leading experts on cancers

and rare diseases. Social Security also has been receiving technical

assistance from the National Institutes of Health to ensure that the

Compassionate Allowance initiative is based on sound, up-to-date medical

science.

“Getting benefits quickly to people with the most severe medical

conditions is both the right and the compassionate thing to do,”

Commissioner Astrue said. “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 – as well as more

information about Compassionate Allowances can be found at

www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.

<http://www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances/conditions.htm>

Social Security Online - Compassionate Allowances

> List of Conditions 1 Acute Leukemia

> 2 Adrenal Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable,

> unresectable or recurrent

> 3 Disease (ALX) - Neonatal and Infantile

> 4 Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

> 5 Anaplastic Adrenal Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable,

> unresectable or recurrent

> 6 Astrocytoma - Grade III and IV

> 7 Bladder Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable or

> unresectable

> 8 Bone Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable

> 9 Breast Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable or

> unresectable

> 10 Canavan Disease (CD)

> 11 Cerebro Oculo Facio Skeletal (COFS) Syndrome

> 12 Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) - Blast Phase

> 13 Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) - Adult

> 14 Ependymoblastoma (Child Brain Tumor)

> 15 Esophageal Cancer

> 16 Farber's Disease (FD) - Infantile

> 17 Friedreichs Ataxia (FRDA)

> 18 Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), Picks Disease -Type A - Adult

> 19 Gallbladder Cancer

> 20 Gaucher Disease (GD) - Type 2

> 21 Glioblastoma Multiforme (Brain Tumor)

> 22 Head and Neck Cancers - with distant metastasis or inoperable or

> uresectable

> 23 Infantile Neuroaxonal Dystrophy (INAD)

> 24 Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC)

> 25 Kidney Cancer - inoperable or unresectable

> 26 Krabbe Disease (KD) - Infantile

> 27 Large Intestine Cancer - with distant metastasis or inoperable,

> unresectable or recurrent

> 28 Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome (LNS)

> 29 Liver Cancer

> 30 Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL)

> 31 Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD) - Late Infantile

> 32 Niemann-Pick Disease (NPD) - Type A

> 33 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer - with metastases to or beyond the

> hilar nodes or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent

> 34 Ornithine Transcarbamylase (OTC) Deficiency

> 35 Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) - Type II

> 36 Ovarian Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable or

> unresectable

> 37 Pancreatic Cancer

> 38 Peritoneal Mesothelioma

> 39 Pleural Mesothelioma

> 40 Pompe Disease - Infantile

> 41 Rett (RTT) Syndrome

> 42 Salivary Tumors

> 43 Sandhoff Disease

> 44 Small Cell Cancer (of the Large Intestine, Ovary, Prostate, or

> Uterus)

> 45 Small Cell Lung Cancer

> 46 Small Intestine Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable,

> unresectable or recurrent

> 47 Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) - Types 0 And 1

> 48 Stomach Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable,

> unresectable or recurrent

> 49 Thyroid Cancer

> 50 Ureter Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable,

> unresectable or recurrent