More than a dozen health conditions are set to be added to the Social Security Administration’s fast-track disability list.
The 14 ailments are being added to Compassionate Allowances, the list launched in 2008 to speed up disability claims for those with severe medical conditions or serious diseases.
“Social Security is strengthening our disability programs and making the disability determination process better, faster, and higher-quality to serve the American public,” SSA Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano said on Tuesday.
“The Compassionate Allowances initiative cuts through red tape and allows us to deliver support to individuals who experience life-changing diagnoses and need help fast.”
With the extra conditions, the CAL now covers 314 illnesses. The additions include cancers primary cardiac sarcoma and Hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma as well as genetic disorders such as Beare-Stevenson cutis gyrata syndrome and Baraitser-Winter syndrome.
The SSA says that it needs to be provided with a person’s medical records when they apply for disability benefits, with technology being used to identify conditions that feature on the CAL.
The SSA confirmed last year that the process generally takes six to eight months. More than 1.2 million people with severe disabilities have been approved through the accelerated process since it launched.
In June, the SSA released figures suggesting that it has reduced its initial disability claim backlog by over 30 percent under Bisignano’s leadership, from 1.3 million in 2024 to 853,000. It has also shortened field office wait times by 30 percent.
However, in a report, a group of Democrats accused President Trump of taking a “wrecking ball” to the SSA during his administration and accusing both him and Bisignano of causing “customer service chaos” at the agency.
The report also hit out at the Department of Government Efficiency, which they say cut 7,500 employees from the agency. The results of that, the Democrats say, have been “catastrophic.”
The full list of conditions featured in the update to the CAL includes:
- Adenylosuccinate Lyase Deficiency – Neonatal Form and Type 1
- Aicardi Syndrome
- Baraitser-Winter Syndrome
- Beare-Stevenson Cutis Gyrata Syndrome
- Bohring-Opitz Syndrome
- CASK-Related Gene Disorders
- Hepatosplenic T-Cell Lymphoma
- Lafora Disease
- Malignant Migrating Partial Seizures of Infancy (MMPSI)
- OPHN1 Syndrome
- Primary Cardiac Sarcoma
- Primary Intracranial Malignant Melanoma
- Uveal Melanoma – with Metastases
- Warburg Micro Syndrome
