Compassionate Allowances Can Help Speed Up Social Security Disability Payments

Becoming disabled due to an injury or medical condition can be devastating. The thought of facing the future can be daunting, especially thinking about how you might manage financially. If you are unable to work, you likely have concerns about how you can cover your expenses.

If you are unable to work due to a disability, you will likely look to long-term disability insurance benefits or Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) benefits to help you survive financially. Disability benefits can be a vital lifeline for those who are unable to work.

However, getting SSDI or long-term disability benefits can be an extremely slow process. It can take several months or even years to get your claim for benefits approved. Many are simply not able to afford to wait so long to begin receiving benefits. .

You may be surprised to learn that once you submit a long-term disability claim with a private insurance company, such as through coverage you obtained as part of a group plan offered by your employer, it can take much longer for the claim to be approved and for you to begin receiving disability benefits than being approved for and receiving SSDI benefits. And, if you are able to get your SSDI benefits approved prior to your long-term disability benefits, a favorable decision can assist you in recovering long-term disability benefits. This is because under the law, insurance companies may be required to consider a favorable SSDI benefit award and may be required to give significant weight to such an award when making their own decisions.

The Social Security Administration understands how difficult it can be for people to wait so long for benefits and has therefore implemented Compassionate Allowances to help reduce the wait time for people who meet certain conditions. However, when it comes to private insurance companies, you may be at the mercy of the insurer’s timeline for reviewing your claim.

Find out more about Compassionate Allowances below and learn how the McKennon Law Group PC can help fight insurance companies for long-term disability benefits due to you.

Why Does it Take So Long to Get Approved for Disability Benefits?

Before the Social Security Administration will approve your claim for SSDI benefits, you must qualify for the program. During this process, the Social Security Administration looks at medical records and other documents to understand whether you are disabled from working and to what extent you maybe able to work.

To apply for SSDI benefits, you must complete lengthy paperwork related to your disabling condition and your daily life. You may also have to provide copies of medical records demonstrating that you have a disabling condition. The Social Security Administration may also request records from your medical providers, including hospitals, doctors’ offices, and physical therapy clinics.

This can be a slow process, especially given that the Social Security Administration is a large government agency. How quickly you provide the relevant information and documentation will impact how long it takes for the Social Security Administration to approve or deny your claim.

If the Social Security Administration denies your claim for SSDI benefits, you have options for appealing the decision. However, the appeals process itself can take several months or years, which will delay you receiving SSDI benefits by even longer.

Long-term disability claims with private insurance companies also may take a long time to be decided. The insurance company will need to obtain and review your medical records. If your claim is denied, the insurance company will likely have a process by which you can appeal the denial, which also can take a substantial amount of time. If your disability claim is governed by a federal law called ERISA, then the insurer is required to allow you to appeal any long-term disability claim denial.

The Relationship Between Social Security Disability Income Benefits and Disability Benefits From Private Insurers

There is a relationship between SSDI benefits and long-term disability benefits paid by private insurance companies. Your private disability policy obtained through your employer will almost certainly contain provisions allowing the insurer to “offset” income you receive from other sources of income against your disability benefits. The most common offset is one for SSDI benefits. The concept is that you may be entitled to receive a given monthly benefit amount, but you should not be able to earn more being disabled than you were when you were working.

Because of these provisions allowing insurers to offset other income against your disability benefits, disability policies commonly contain provisions requiring the covered person to seek SSDI benefits. These provisions often require that you apply for SSDI benefits, and sometimes require you to exhaust any available appeals. Many insurers will pay for legal counsel to handle your SSDI claim for you.

More importantly for you, a favorable determination on your SSDI claim will likely make it easier for you to qualify for long-term disability benefits with your employer or under your individual disability policy. Therefore, it may be in your interest to consider making claims for SSDI benefits and long-term disability simultaneously. At the very least, this can allow you to be more efficient with obtaining medical records and completing documents.

Why the Social Security Administration Has Compassionate Allowances

The Social Security Administration recognizes that some conditions lead to a disability 100% of the time. Therefore, persons who are diagnosed with such conditions do not need to prove their disability. They only have to demonstrate that they have the diagnosis.

Because of this, the Social Security Administration instituted Compassionate Allowances. This is a list of conditions that support the automatic approval of SSDI benefits. This saves time by avoidingr the lengthy claim process that involves a detailed review of your medical records.

Having a condition on the Compassionate Allowance list does not necessarily mean that you will not be required to go through a claim process with the Social Security Administration . You will still have to provide medical records or the Social Security Administration may still request them from your providers. Your claim and case will still go through a review process.

Some of the Conditions on the Compassionate Allowance List

The list of Compassionate Allowance conditions is quite long. It includes a variety of terminal illnesses, cancers, autoimmune disorders, mental health disorders, and musculoskeletal disorders.

Some of the Compassionate Allowance conditions are:

• Acute leukemia
• Breast cancer
• Child lymphoma
• Fatal familial insomnia
• Lewy body dementia
• Liver cancer
• Perry syndrome
• Seckel syndrome
• Skin malignant melanoma with metastasis
• Small cell cancer
• Thyroid cancer

The best way to understand if your condition is on the list is to check for yourself. The Social Security Administration updates the list from time to time, so do not assume a condition is not on it simply because it was not on the list in the past.

It is also important to note that if your condition is not on the list, that does not mean that you will not be approved for disability benefits. It simply means that you will not get automatic and immediate distribution of benefits based on a Compassionate Allowance condition.

There is no such Compassionate Allowance program when you are dealing with a long-term disability claim involving a group disability policy from your employer or under an individual disability policy you obtained privately.

Get Help With Your Long-Term Disability Claim

Applying for long-term disability and SSDI benefits is a complex process. It is full of potential obstacles that can delay or hinder the process. A mistake on your application or a misunderstanding over your records can lead to an inappropriate denial of benefits. If you are struggling with these processes, feel you have been unfairly denied benefits, or you seem to be waiting forever for anything to happen, consider getting help.

Reach out to a reputable attorney for disability insurance in San Diego that is highly experienced with long-term disability claims. Call the McKennon Law Group PC at 800-682-4137 to make an appointment with our legal team. We will help you understand what your options are and how we can help you fight insurance companies hat are unfairly denying your disability insurance benefits.