Social Security adds 14 conditions to fast-track disability list

The Social Security Administration said on Tuesday that it is adding 14 conditions to its fast-track disability list, which can help people with these conditions speed up the process of receiving benefits. 

The program, known as the Compassionate Allowances list, was created in 2008 to accelerate disability claims for people with rare, life-threatening or other severe medical conditions. The list, which counting the added illnesses now includes 314 conditions, has helped 1.2 million people receive approval for disability benefits, the agency said on Tuesday.

Social Security uses technology to scan disability applications for conditions on the compassionate allowances list, and those applications often receive approval within days, according to one law firm. A typical disability application can require between six and eight months to receive approval, the Social Security Administration has said.

"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," Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano said in a statement. 

The new conditions include rare pediatric and neurological disorders, such as Aicardi syndrome, a genetic condition that primarily affects girls, and some rare cancers, such as primary cardiac sarcoma.

Here are the new conditions added to the Social Security Administration's list:

• 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