At present there are 113 medical conditions that qualify for ‘compassionate allowance’ status; an additional 52 conditions will be added in August 2013. Compassionate Allowances (CAL) include medication conditions that Social Security purportedly identifies and targets early in the process for expedited processing. The full list of conditions can be found here, and it includes Early Onset Alzheimer’s, some cancers, and several congenital birth defects.
On July 13, 2012, the Social Security Administration announced that Huntington’s Disease would be added to the compassionate allowance list by the end of the year. Huntington’s Disease is a genetic disorder passed from parents to children that causes physical symptoms including jerking motions in the extremities and an unsteady gait – it also results in mental impairments including psychosis and dementia. The disease is progressive and there is no known cure.
