Social Security Added 14 Conditions to Its Fast-Track List. It Now Covers 314.

Social Security added 14 conditions on August 11 to the list that lets a disability claim skip the standard queue. The list now covers 314 conditions, and more than 1.2 million people with severe disabilities have been approved through it.

The program is called Compassionate Allowances. It flags claims involving conditions that clearly meet the disability standard so they can be decided quickly rather than waiting out the normal process.

What Was Added

Adenylosuccinate Lyase Deficiency in its neonatal form and Type 1, Aicardi Syndrome, Baraitser-Winter Syndrome, Beare-Stevenson Cutis Gyrata Syndrome, Bohring-Opitz Syndrome, CASK-Related Gene Disorders, Hepatosplenic T-Cell Lymphoma, Lafora Disease, Malignant Migrating Partial Seizures of Infancy, OPHN1 Syndrome, Primary Cardiac Sarcoma, Primary Intracranial Malignant Melanoma, Uveal Melanoma with metastases, and Warburg Micro Syndrome.

Most are rare genetic and neurological conditions. Several are cancers that appear in adults, including primary cardiac sarcoma, hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma, and uveal melanoma once it has spread.

How the Agency Says It Works

SSA identifies potential cases using technology rather than waiting for someone to raise a hand, and pulls electronic medical records through its Health IT program so the people deciding claims have the file in front of them.

Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano framed the wider effort this way: “Social Security is strengthening our disability programs and making the disability determination process better, faster, and higher-quality to serve the American public.”

What It Does and Does Not Do

Being on the list speeds identification and review. It does not approve a claim automatically, and the medical standard still has to be met.

What changes is the clock. A disability determination that would otherwise sit in a queue gets flagged and moved, which for someone with a new diagnosis of an aggressive cancer is the difference that matters.

The Practical Step

There is no separate application. A claim is flagged based on the condition reported, which means the diagnosis has to be stated clearly and the medical records have to be reachable.

Anyone filing with one of the 314 listed conditions should make sure the diagnosis is named precisely on the application, because that is what triggers the flag.

References: Social Security Administration