The Compassionate Allowances Initiative (CAL) is a program by the Social Security Administration aimed at helping quickly identify diseases and medical conditions that meet the SSA’s standards for disability benefits.
This initiative may help the SSA identify your case faster, potentially speeding up the approval process for your claim if you have a severe disability.
What diseases and medical conditions are eligible for CAL?
For CAL to help expedite your SSDI claim, your disease or medical condition must fall under the list of conditions that the SSA has identified as eligible. These may include:
- Adult brain disorders: These include severe neurological conditions such as ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), which progressively affects cells in the brain and spine, early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, characterized by the early and rapid decline in cognitive functions and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
- Various cancers: These include aggressive and advanced-stage cancers such as pancreatic cancer, known for its poor prognosis and high mortality rate, liver cancer, which can rapidly impair liver function and small cell lung cancer, which can spread quickly to other parts of the body.
- Cardiovascular conditions: This category includes life-threatening heart conditions such as individuals on the heart transplant waitlist, who face immediate and severe health risks without a transplant.
- Neurological disorders: In addition to brain disorders, this includes conditions like Huntington’s disease, a progressive brain disorder that causes uncontrolled movements and cognitive decline and multiple system atrophy, a rare condition that causes symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease.
- Immune system disorders: Severe autoimmune diseases such as certain types of lupus, which can cause widespread inflammation and tissue damage, and systemic sclerosis with pulmonary hypertension, which can lead to severe respiratory issues and heart failure.
The SSA continuously updates this list to include the most severe disabilities. To better determine if your condition qualifies, it would be important to consider seeking legal guidance.