We Can Fast-Track Disability Decisions for People With Severe Conditions

Rare Disease Day is an annual international campaign held on the last day of February to advocate for people living with one of approximately 6,000 rare diseases.

The goal of Rare Disease Day is to improve access to diagnosis, treatment, care, and opportunities for the 300 million people throughout the world with a rare disease.

What are Compassionate Allowances?

Our Compassionate Allowances help us fast-track medical decisions for people who apply for disability and have the most severe conditions. They include certain cancers, adult brain disorders, and rare diseases that affect children.

The Compassionate Allowances (CAL) program allows us to make quick and accurate determinations for adults and children with serious diseases and other disorders that meet our disability standards.

We’ve approved more than 1 million people since this accelerated disability process began in 2008.

How does the CAL program work?

When a person applies for disability, we must obtain and review evidence to make a medical determination. This process generally takes 6 to 8 months. By combining technology and electronic medical records, we’re able to identify applicants with certain conditions and make faster decisions. We can often medically approve an application as soon as we confirm the person’s diagnosis.

We continue to expand the CAL program, and our list of conditions has grown from the original 50 to 287. In August 2024, we added 9 new Compassionate Allowances. You can ask us to add a specific condition to our list. To learn more, check out Submit the Name of a Condition For Consideration.

If you or someone you know is considering applying for disability benefits or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), you can check eligibility online by answering a few questions. Visit our website to complete our adult application.

To make an appointment for yourself or a child, you can call 1-800-772-1213, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. To determine how long it may take to get a disability decision in your state, check out Apply for Social Security benefits.

We hope you’ll join us in observing Rare Disease Day. Please let others know about our Compassionate Allowances and share the information on social media.