Social Security expands compassionate allowances

Most people think of Social Security as a program that helps retirees pay their bills, but there is another important aspect to it; disability income. The SSA pays out benefits to those who have earned enough to be eligible for Social Security but are not yet old enough to claim it, when they can't work for a year or more due to a physical or mental condition.

Unfortunately, the program has been under fire for quite a while due to the backlog in claims resulting in months and months of agonizing waiting for claimants. This is why your TV carries so many ads for 'Disability Advocates'; they make their living off of this government inefficiency.

To address this problem, the SSA came up with a four-step process in 2007, one of which is the compassionate allowance conditions list. This is essentially a list of maladies that are fast-tracked through the system, avoiding the long delays and common rejections of the initial application. Now, this list of 50 maladies has been expanded by another 38 maladies. This is particularly good news to those suffering from Cri du Chat Syndrome, Leigh's Disease, Maple Syrup Urine Disease, or Zellweger Syndrome.