The acting commissioner of Social Security, Kilolo Kijakazi, has announced a dozen new conditions for Compassionate Allowance. Compassionate Allowances is one initiative that identifies certain medical conditions or diseases that meet standards for Social Security or Disability benefits. The twelve new conditions that were added are: Congenital Zika Syndrome, Charlevoix Saguenay Spastic Ataxia (ARSACS), CIC-rearranged Sarcoma, Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma, Choroid Plexus Carcinoma, SYNGAP1-related NSID ,Desmoplastic Mesothelioma, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy – Adult, Pericardial Mesothelioma, Renpenning Syndrome, SCN8A Related Epilepsy with Encephalopathy, and Taybi-Linder Syndrome.

The Compassionate Allowances program is an initiative to identify claims where an applicant’s disease or condition meets the statutory standard for disabilities. Many of these conditions are severe, so the claims often rely on just medical confirmation or diagnoses alone.

Over 700,00 people with disabilities have been approved through this intuitive method, which is now growing over a total of 254 conditions or diseases.

When an individual applies for disability benefits, medical records must be sent to Social Security to ensure there is an accurate determination for benefits. With the staggering list of conditions on the Compassionate Allowances, however, the process is much more rapid, as it often requires proof of diagnoses.