The Social Security program when first introduced in 1935 was aimed at preventing elder poverty. Following the 1956 amendments, however, the program grew to include disability benefits as well. Today, the Social Security Administration (SSA) pays various types of benefits to a total of around 74 million vulnerable Americans.
For the most part, especially for retirees, the way the program runs is quite straight forward — you pay into Social Security payroll taxes during your working years and later when you become eligible, you claim back your benefits. Over time, however, there have been various updates and changes to rules and requirements of the program. In the case of retirees, for instance, the Full Retirement Age has been gradually increasing in two month increments since the 1983 amendments. So while you can begin claiming at age 62, you will only be considered eligible for your full benefits once your reach your Full Retirement Age,
For benefits such as the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or disability insurance benefits, the eligibility criteria is a bit more detailed. For SSI benefits, your current income and living situation are also taken into account when your benefits are being calculated.
With regards to Disability Insurance benefits, the SSA recently updated its Compassionate Allowances List (CAL). This is an initiative that accelerates the disability application process for individuals applying who have any of the diseases or conditions mentioned on the list. A recent update from the SSA revealed that thirteen additional conditions were added to the CAL list. Here is what you need to know.
Social Security updates it Compassionate Allowances List
When compared to retiree benefits applying for disability benefits arguably has a lot more red tape to work through before the application is approved. This is because when a disability application is submitted, the agency is required to first review the medical records of the applicant. This is where the Compassionate Allowances List initiative comes into play and helps accelerate this process.
Having to deal with drawn out bureaucracy after having just received a life altering diagnosis is no fun task. In order to make the process of applying for disability as quick and easy as possible, the SSA introduced the CAL initiative. If your condition is one of the 300 conditions on the list, through the use of technology, your application can be streamlined.
According to the agency, “if your condition is on the CAL list, we use technology to flag your application and speed things up. In some cases, we can even get your medical records electronically, which makes the process even faster.”
The SSA recently added an additional thirteen conditions to the list bringing the total up to 300.
“With the inclusion of these 13 conditions, the CAL list now includes 300 conditions in total. Since the CAL initiative began, over 1.1 million people with severe disabilities have been approved through this accelerated disability process that is fully policy-compliant,” the SSA wrote in the announcement.
Thirteen conditions added to CAL initiative
As per the recent update from the agency, the following thirteen conditions have been added to the Compassionate Allowances List by the Social Security Administration:
- Au-Kline Syndrome
- Bilateral Anophthalmia
- Carey-Fineman-Ziter Syndrome
- Harlequin Ichthyosis – Child
- Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
- LMNA-related Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
- Progressive Muscular Atrophy
- Pulmonary Amyloidosis – AL Type
- Rasmussen Encephalitis
- Thymic Carcinoma
- Turnpenny-Fry Syndrome
- WHO Grade III Meningiomas
- Zhu-Tokita-Takenouchi-Kim Syndrome
“We are constantly looking for ways to improve our disability programs and serve the public more effectively,” SSA Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano wrote in the August 11th press release. “By adding these 13 conditions to the Compassionate Allowances list, we are helping more people with devastating diagnoses to quickly receive the support they need. This is part of our broader commitment to making the disability determination process as responsive and compassionate as possible.”