On October 27, 2008, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced the beginning of a national campaign, called the Compassionate Allowances initiative, meant to speed up the processing of disability claims for applicants whose conditions are severe enough to obviously meet the Administration’s standards. Fifty medical conditions currently make up the list of impairments the Administration will use to more quickly process applications.

Compassionate Allowances, when combined with the Social Security Administration’s Quick Disability Determination process, could result in disability claims for a quarter million people being decided in an average of six to eight days.

The program is intended to benefit disability applicants whose claims require expedited consideration because of the nature of their diseases. Compassionate Allowances was created in part due to the disability backlogs that cause a hardship for patients and their families.

Source: “Social Security announces nationwide launch of Compassionate Allowances,” Social Security Administration Press Release, October 27, 2008.