For people living with rare and severe health conditions, getting fast-tracked access to Social Security disability benefits can mean the difference between life and death. Each year, the Social Security Administration (SSA) typically announces additions to its list of medical conditions that qualify a patient for a more rapid approval of disability benefits through its Compassionate Allowances program.

In August of this year, the SSA expanded its Compassionate Allowances program to include the following nine conditions:

• Bainbridge-Ropers Syndrome
• Costello Syndrome
• Adult Heart Transplant Wait List – Status Levels 1-4
• Histiocytic Malignancies
• Neonatal Marfan Syndrome
• PACS1 Syndrome
• Plasmablastic Lymphoma
• Renal Medullary Carcinoma
• Snijders Blok-Campeau Syndrome

Additionally, the SSA revised the following two conditions that were already on its list:

• Child Heart Transplant Wait List – Status Levels 1A/1B
• Histiocytosis Syndromes

“I am steadfastly committed to reducing the amount of time people wait to receive a decision on their disability claim, and we are making progress,” SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley said in a recent news release. “Compassionate Allowances helps in this effort by accelerating the disability application process for people who are likely to get approved for benefits due to the severity of their medical condition.”

The SSA’s Compassionate Allowances program now includes 287 conditions.

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