What Conditions Are Included in the Social Security Compassionate Allowance Initiative?

In 2008, the Social Security Administration (SSA) began the Compassionate Allowances Initiative. The process for filing for Social Security disability is the same whether or not you have a condition that is included in the Compassionate Allowances Initiative. However, if your condition is included in this initiative, it should expedite the review of your application. The goal of the program is to get disability benefits to those who need them right away.

As of May 2016, the list of Compassionate Allowances includes:

• Acute leukemia
• Adrenal cancer
• Adult non-Hodgkin lymphoma
• Adult-onset Huntington disease
• Aicardi-Goutieres syndrome
• Alexander disease (ALX)
• Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome
• Alobar holoprosencephaly
• Alpers disease
• Alpha mannosidosis – type II and III
• Alstrom syndrome
• Alveolar soft part sarcoma
• Amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
• Anaplastic adrenal cancer
• Angelman syndrome
• Angiosarcoma
• Aortic atresia
• Aplastic anemia
• Astrocytoma – grade III and IV
• Ataxia telangiectasia
• Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumor
• Batten disease
• Beta thalassemia major
• Bilateral optic atrophy – infantile
• Bilateral retinoblastoma
• Bladder cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
• Breast cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
• Canavan disease (CD)
• Carcinoma of unknown primary site
• Cardiac amyloidosis – AL Type
• Caudal regression syndrome – types III and IV
• Cerebro oculo facio skeletal (COFS) Syndrome
• Cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis
• Child lymphoblastic lymphoma
• Child lymphoma
• Child neuroblastoma – with distant metastases or recurrent
• Chondrosarcoma – with multimodal therapy
• Chronic idiopathic intestinal pseudo obstruction
• Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) – blast phase
• Coffin-lowry syndrome
• Congenital lymphedema
• Classic Cornelia de Lange syndrome
• Corticobasal degeneration
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) – Adult
• Cri du chat syndrome
• Degos disease, systemic
• DeSanctis cacchione syndrome
• Dravet syndrome
• Early-onset Alzheimer’s disease
• Edwards syndrome (Trisomy 18)
• Eisenmenger syndrome
• Endometrial stromal sarcoma
• Endomyocardial fibrosis
• Ependymoblastoma – child brain tumor
• Erdheim Chester disease
• Esophageal cancer
• Esthesioneuroblastoma
• Ewing sarcoma
• Farber’s disease (FD) – infantile
• Fatal familial insomnia
• Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva
• Follicular dendritic cell sarcoma – metastatic or recurrent
• Friedreichs ataxia (FRDA)
• Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Picks disease – type A – Adult
• Fryns syndrome
• Fucosidosis – type 1
• Fukuyama congenital muscular dystrophy
• Fulminant giant cell myocarditis
• Galactosialidosis – early and late infantile types
• Gallbladder cancer
• Gaucher disease (GD) – type 2
• Giant axonal neuropathy
• Glioblastoma multiforme (adult brain tumor)
• Glioma grade III and IV
• Glutaric acidemia – type II
• Head and neck Cancers
• Heart transplant graft failure
• Heart transplant wait list, 1a/1b
• Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), familial type
• Hepatoblastoma
• Hepatopulmonary syndrome
• Hepatorenal syndrome
• Histiocytosis syndromes
• Hoyeall-Hreidarsson Syndrome
• Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome
• Hydranencephaly
• Hypocomplementemic urticarial vasculitis syndrome
• Hypophosphatasia perinatal (lethal) and infantile onset types
• Hypoplastic left heart syndrome
• I cell disease
• Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
• Intracranial hemangiopericytoma
• Infantile free sialic acid storage disease
• Infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy (INAD)
• Infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses
• Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC)
• Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome
• Joubert Syndrome
• Junctional epidermolysis bullosa, lethal type
• Juvenile-onset Huntington disease
• Kidney Cancer
• Krabbe disease (KD) – infantile
• Kufs disease type A and B
• Large intestine cancer
• Late infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses
• Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) recipient
• Leigh’s disease
• Leiomyosarcoma
• Leptomeningeal Carcinomatosis
• Lesch-Nyhan syndrome (LNS)
• Lewy body dementia
• Liposarcoma – metastatic or recurrent
• Lissencephaly
• Liver cancer
• Lowe syndrome
• Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis – grade III
• Malignant brain stem gliomas – childhood
• Malignant Ectomesenchymoma
• Malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumor
• Malignant germ cell tumor
• Malignant melanoma – with metastases
• Malignant multiple sclerosis
• Malignant Renal Rhabdoid Tumor
• Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL)
• Maple syrup urine disease
• Marshall-Smith Syndrome
• Mastocytosis type IV
• MECP 2 duplication syndrome
• Medulloblastoma – with metastases
• Menkes disease – classic or infantile-onset form
• Merkel cell carcinoma – with metastases
• Merosin deficient congenital muscular dystrophy
• Metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) – late infantile
• Mitral valve atresia
• Mixed dementias
• MPS I, formerly known as Hurler syndrome
• MPS II, formerly known as Hunter syndrome
• MPS III, formerly known as Sanfilippo syndrome
• Mucosal malignant melanoma
• Multicentric Castleman disease
• Multiple system atrophy
• Myoclonic epilepsy with ragged red fibers syndrome
• Neonatal adrenoleukodystrophy
• Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis
• Neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation – type 1 and type 2
• NFU-1 mitochondrial disease
• Niemann-Pick disease (NPD) – type A
• Niemann-Pick disease -type C
• Non-ketotic hyperglcinemia
• Non-small cell lung cancer
• Obliterative bronchiolitis
• Ohtahara syndrome
• Oligodendroglioma Brain Cancer- Grade III
• Ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency
• Orthochromatic leukodystrophy with pigmented glia
• Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) – type II
• Osteosarcoma, formerly known as bone cancer
• Ovarian cancer
• Pallister-Killian Syndrome
• Pancreatic cancer
• Paraneoplastic pemphigus
• Patau suyndrome (Trisomy 13)
• Pearson syndrome
• Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease – classic form
• Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease – connatal form
• Peripheral nerve cancer
• Peritoneal mesothelioma
• Peritoneal mucinous carcinomatosis
• Perry syndrome
• Phelan-McDermid syndrome
• Pleural mesothelioma
• Pompe disease – infantile
• Primary central nervous system lymphoma
• Primary effusion lymphoma
• Primary progressive aphasia
• Progressive Bulbar Palsy
• Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
• Progressive supranuclear palsy
• Prostate cancer – hormone refractory disease – or with visceral metastases
• Pulmonary atresia
• Pulmonary kaposi sarcoma
• Retinopathy of prematurity – stage V
• Rett (RTT) syndrome
• Revesz Syndrome
• Rhabdomyosarcoma
• Rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata
• Roberts syndrome
• Salivary tumors
• Sandhoff disease
• Schindler disease – type 1
• Seckel Syndrome
• Severe combined immunodeficiency – childhood
• Single ventricle
• Sjogren-Larsson Syndrome
• Sinonasal cancer
• Small cell cancer of the large intestine, prostate, thymus or uterus
• Small cell cancer of the female genital tract
• Small cell lung cancer
• Small intestine cancer
• Smith Lemli Opitz syndrome
• Soft Tissue Sarcoma – with distant metastases or recurrent
• Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) – types 0 And 1
• Spinal nerve root cancer
• Spinocerebellar ataxia
• Stiff person syndrome
• Stomach cancer
• Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis
• Tabes dorsalis
• Tay Sachs disease – infantile type
• Thanatophoric dysplasia, type 1
• The ALS/Parkinsonism dementia complex
• Thyroid cancer
• Transplant coronary artery vasculopathy
• Tricuspid atresia
• Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy
• Ureter cancer
• Usher syndrome – type I
• Walker Warburg syndrome
• Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome
• Wolman disease
• X-Linked Lymphoproliferative Disease
• X-Linked Myotubular Myopathy
• Xeroderma pigmentosum
• Zellweger syndrome

If you have a severe disease or health condition—either an illness listed above or one not listed–it is vital that you apply for and receive Social Security disability benefits as soon as possible. Please read our FREE book, Social Security Disability: What You Need to Know to learn more.

by Paul B. Burkhalter
Managing Partner of Morgan & Weisbrod, Board Certified in Social Security Disability Law.

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