Social Security Holds Third Disability Hearing on Compassionate Allowances

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Social Security Holds Third Disability Hearing on Compassionate

Allowances

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/pr/compassionate-allowances-

1108-pr.htm

Experts Provide Testimony on Traumatic Brain Injuries and Stroke

The Social Security Administration, in conjunction with the United

States Department of Defense, held a public hearing on Compassionate

Allowances today at Ft. Myer in Arlington, VA. Senior executives

from the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health

joined J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, to hear

testimony from some of the nation's leading experts on traumatic

brain injury, the signature injury of the conflicts in Iraq and

Afghanistan, and stroke.

" Compassionate Allowances, which we launched last month with an

initial list of 50 conditions, allows us to make disability decisions

on certain categories of cases in a matter of days, rather than

months or years, " said Commissioner Astrue. " Today's hearing gives

us additional insight into how we might better recognize and fast-

track the disability applications of veterans and others dealing with

the effects of traumatic brain injuries and strokes. "

Compassionate Allowances are a way of quickly identifying diseases

and other medical conditions that invariably qualify under Social

Security's disability standards based on minimal objective medical

information. Today's hearing is the third of four public hearings

Social Security plans to hold. Previous hearings dealt with cancers

and rare diseases and resulted in the nationwide launch of the

Compassionate Allowances initiative in October 2008. See the press

release at: www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/pr/compassionate-

allowances-1008-pr.htm

Please go to www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances for more

information