Compassionate Allowances accelerate the SSDI approval process
Published on October 9th, 2019 by Eric Slepian
According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), the average wait time for a hearing after filing a Social Security Disability Insurance claim is more than 20 months. For some people with the most serious medical conditions and disabilities, the nearly two years of waiting is simply not possible. They need immediate SSDI help.
The Social Security Administration’s Compassionate Allowances (CAL) program enables the typically slow-moving bureaucracy to dramatically accelerate the approval process and get help to qualifying SSDI and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applicants within days or weeks rather than months or even years.
The SSA has on its website a long list of conditions that can qualify a person for CAL. The more than 230 serious medical conditions and disabilities range from acute leukemia to Zellweger Syndrome. “These conditions primarily include certain cancers, adult brain disorders, and a number of rare disorders that affect children,” the SSA says on its site.
A downside to the CAL initiative is that it does not expedite the process in which a person receives Medicare benefits. Instead, qualifying CAL applicants are awarded Medicare benefits two years after they have been determined to be qualified for SSDI – the very same wait for all others receiving disability benefits.
One of the many upsides to the program is that it requires of applicants no extra paperwork or medical documentation to accompany their SSDI application. Of course, as with all claims for disability benefits, it is important to ensure that the submitted forms and documents meet SSA standards and requirements.
To get professional help in preparing and submitting your disability claim, contact a Phoenix attorney experienced in helping applicants navigate the system.
