If you are sick or injured and unable to work, then you may qualify for social security disability. Unfortunately, the social security disability process is often a long and hard one that may require you to fight for your monetary rights. Many people will hire a social security disability lawyer to help them through the process. The lawyer may help you garner a much more timely decision on your disability claim. This may especially be true if you qualify for a compassionate allowance. If you are unfamiliar with this term, then keep reading to learn about some facts before you seek out legal counsel.
Understanding Compassionate Allowance
There are many different conditions and injuries that are characterized as disabilities, and some are recognized as obvious disabilities by others. Some obvious disabilities, like lung cancer or brain cancer are serious illnesses that are expensive to treat and bring about a slew of quality-of-life, health, and general living difficulties. Since these diseases are recognized as disabilities, a great deal of clinical proof is not required to prove that an individual with brain cancer, for example, would meet the threshold of disability. Specifically, while one case of brain cancer may be more serious than another, all instances of brain cancer are serious and cause disability. The Social Security Administration recognizes this and allows for people with serious illnesses to go through a much shorter disability application and claims process.
Obvious and serious disabilities are called compassionate allowance conditions. They are identified by the Social Security Administration, and a list of conditions can be accessed online. New conditions are added to the list every year and require very little, but concrete, medical information to prove.
Under normal circumstances it can take up to 90 days to hear about an initial decision on your disability case, and it can take another 60 days to hear about an appeal. However, it will typically only take a few weeks to hear about a disability claim if you have a compassionate-allowance condition.
You should understand that compassionate allowance diseases are classified as serious and long-term illnesses. If you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, then your claim can go through an even quicker process called TERI. A TERI case can be determined in as little as a month, so make sure your disability application specifies if your medical condition is critical or terminal.
Compassionate Allowance Denials
If you have cancer or a serious bone, blood, or heart illness that qualifies you for a compassionate allowance, then you can fill out the same social security disability application as an individual with a typical or normal disability claim. Your case will be identified as a compassionate allowance variety once your paperwork is filed with the SSA office in your area.
However, an identification of a compassionate allowance condition does not automatically mean your case will be accepted. While the process is simplified and expedited, a denial can still occur. There are many reasons why a SSD claim may be denied. You may make too much money to qualify for disability benefits, the SSA office may be unable to contact you by telephone or mail, your application may be incomplete, or you may not be following your doctor's recommended medical treatment for your disorder.
While minimal medical information may be required, your medical records will still need to be sent to your local SSA office. If they are not, then this may be why your claim is denied as well. You do have the option of providing necessary paperwork and information after your denial. However, after the second denial you will need to go through an appeal process where a judge oversees your case. This is the part of the disability process that can take many months or years to complete, so it is best to make sure that applications and paperwork are correct the first time around.
