While the Social Security Administration has made some progress in clearing out its massive backlog of cases and getting claimants hearings more quickly, the average wait time from application to hearing is still well over a year in most parts of the country.
The good news is that Social Security also continues expedite claims by adding conditions to its Compassionate Allowance List.
The list, which now stands at 237 conditions, recently added CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder, Pitt Hopkins Syndrome, Primary Peritoneal Cancer, and Richter Syndrome.
The purpose of the Compassionate Allowance List is to ensure benefits are paid as quickly as possible to claimants with serious conditions that clearly meet Social Security’s criteria of disability.
Social Security began using the list in 2008 when it was made up about 50 conditions and has continued to add at least a few new impairments to it every year. The list is mostly made up of specific types of cancer, and serious but rare genetic conditions.
Exactly what constitutes a condition that meets the criteria of a compassionate allowance condition can vary. For example, a diagnosis of a heart transplant graft failure should be enough to be granted benefits, while some types of cancer on the list require medical documentation that they have metastasized.
If Social Security finds that a claimant is disabled by a condition on the Compassionate Allowance List, it is possible to get a favorable decision in as little as 10 days, with benefits beginning a couple months after that.
