Living with a disabling medical condition is difficult enough without adding to it the financial burden brought on by being unable to work. If a disability prevents you from working, you may read this and wonder what conditions automatically qualify for disability benefits.
No medical condition automatically qualifies for benefits through the Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance programs available through the Social Security Administration. Regardless of the physical or mental health impairments keeping you from working, you need to meet specific criteria to qualify for SSDI or SSI benefits.
However, there are ways to speed up the approval process based on your impairment or impairments. One is the Listing of Impairments or Blue Book, and the other is the Compassionate Allowances program.
What Does It Take To Qualify For Disability Benefits?
You must be disabled according to the definition of disability used by Social Security when reviewing claims for SSI and SSDI benefits. A disability is a medically determinable physical or mental impairment that prevents you from doing substantial gainful work-related activity for at least 12 continuous months or is expected to result in death. Applications for SSI benefits filed on behalf of a child must show a medically determinable physical or mental impairment expected to last for 12 continuous months or cause death that results in marked and severe functional limitations.
Before an application for disability benefits goes through a review of your medical condition to determine if you are disabled, Social Security reviews it to ensure that you meet the non-medical requirements for eligibility. For SSI benefits, a needs-based program, you cannot have more than limited income and resources. For example, resources cannot exceed $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for eligible couples.
Applicants for SSDI benefits also need to meet non-medical requirements. You must have worked long enough and paid Social Security taxes on the money earned. How long and recently you need to have worked depends on your age at the onset of the disability.
Qualifying For Disability Benefits With The Blue Book
Social Security created a listing of impairments, commonly called the Blue Book, to assist claims examiners when reviewing applications to determine if a person is disabled. The Blue Book lists medical and mental health conditions deemed severe enough to meet the requirements of the disability definition used by Social Security.
The Blue Book has a Part A, which contains 14 categories of diseases and disorders for adults, and a Part B for children that includes the same 14 categories in Part A. Part B also includes low birth weight and failure to as a category specific to children.
If an application documents a condition that matches or is equivalent to the criteria for a listed impairment, it meets the disability definition. A condition that does not match or equal a listing must go through a continuation of the evaluation process to determine if the applicant is disabled.
Compassionate Allowances Program
The Compassionate Allowances program allows claims examiners to quickly identify applications that meet the definition of disability and qualify for benefits through SSI and SSDI. The CAL program reduces the time it takes to identify and process the applications of individuals with the most severe medical conditions.
The list of conditions that qualify through the CAL program is extensive and includes the following:
- Acute Leukemia
- Adult- and juvenile-onset Huntington’s disease
- Adult non-Hodgkin lymphoma
- Breast cancer
- Bladder cancer
Almost 300 diseases and disorders are currently eligible for the CAL program. The Social Security Administration’s software scans applications for SSI and SSDI to determine whether impairments claimed in an application match conditions on the current CAL list.
If they do, the CAL program identifies your application for expedited processing. The CAL program and the Blue Book provide two ways to reduce the time it takes to approve a claim for disability benefits. Learn more about them from a disability lawyer.
