Social Security’s Acting Commissioner Nancy Berryhill released a message to all Social Security and Disability Determination Services employees to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Social Security’s Compassionate Allowance program for Social Security disability benefits.
The Compassionate Allowance initiative was implemented to quickly identify diseases and other medical conditions that, by definition, meet Social Security’s standards for disability benefits.
“On October 27th, we will celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Compassionate Allowances program. Over the past decade, Compassionate Allowances have helped us identify and fast-track cases for individuals who have diseases and other medical conditions that are most likely to be approved for disability benefits. To date, over 500,000 people with serious disabilities have been approved through this fast-track, policy-compliant disability process,” Berryhill wrote.
Social Security consistently adds new conditions to the list and just added five new conditions in August. To check and see what conditions consist of a Compassionate Allowance claim click here.
Another Scam To Be Aware Of
A news story from Valley News in Fargo, North Dakota reported several people have contacted the news organization to report receiving calls from scammers pretending to be from the Social Security Administration. This is not a new scam as the callers inform the victim that their Social Security numbers have been suspended because of “suspicious or illegal activity.” They then ask for personal information so they can take the Social Security number off suspension. Valley News did some investigating and attempted to call the number the scammers were asking people to call them back at, but the phone number had been disconnected. This serves as a good reminder that you should not give out personal information over the phone unless you verify who you are talking to. Similar types of scams have occurred all over the country.
