February 24, 2017

Compassionate Allowance Puts Rare Diseases On SSDI Fast Track

By The Old Sarge

Since Allsup first opened its doors for business in 1984, our disability professionals have helped more than 375,000 people receive the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits they paid for while they were working.

Many of them suffer from serious rare diseases that were once treated like any other disability by the Social Security Administration (SSA). That meant that their disability claims were bogged down in the government’s bureaucratic SSDI quicksand.

Most SSDI claimants still face nearly unbearable waits for a decision on their claims--the national average wait time for a hearing before an administrative law judge is now a heart breaking 543 days.

Fortunately, a 2008 ruling created the agency’s Compassionate Allowances (CAL) program, which put people suffering from conditions that obviously meet SSA’s disability standards on the fast track to SSDI benefits. Many of those conditions are rare diseases. The SSA’s lists more than 220 conditions as being eligible for compassionate allowances, including many rare diseases. In the U.S., a disease or disorder is defined as rare when it affects fewer than 200,000 Americans at any given time. Click here for a complete list of Compassionate Allowances conditions.

The last day of February each year is designated as worldwide Rare Disease Day. The objective is to raise awareness about how rare diseases affect patients’ lives. Only a small percentage of our claimants will ever qualify for the fast-track CAL program, but anyone can get fast, no-cost information about their potential SSDI eligibility by visiting Allsup.com and clicking the empower by Allsup® button.

Click here for a YouTube video on how empower by Allsup® can help you.

By the way, we can also help if you’ve been denied veterans disability benefits, or assigned a lower rating than you think you should have received. Contact one of our VA-Accredited Claims agents by calling (888) 372-1190, or by clicking here.

Written by

Dan Allsup