The SSA was born more than eighty years ago to help elderly people so that they would not be left without income when they could no longer work, then, many years later it was expanded so that disabled people or those temporarily incapacitated could enjoy that same privilege.
Today there are more than 74 million people who depend on its different aids, and although the system seems simple (you work, you pay taxes and then you collect when you retire) the truth is that there are many nuances.
SSA for retirees
In the case of retirees, you can request your full pension starting at age 67 (Full Retirement Age), although if you need to retire earlier you can do so at 62 with partial retirement, but you will not receive the maximum of your benefits if you choose this last option.
About the retirement age, now it is at 67 years but it is believed that in these years it may go up, and even some analysts believe that the pension funds will be emptied sooner rather than later.
And disability leave?
For disability leave your years of contributions are not needed, but rather the diagnosis of your doctors, your income and your personal situation. To avoid making the process eternal, the Social Security Administration (SSA) created years ago a list called Compassionate Allowances List (CAL). And they have just updated it again.
What is that list?
Something like a checklist, when someone is diagnosed with something, the last thing they need is to spend months searching for paperwork to know if they are entitled to a payment or not.
The CAL accelerates the application process for those who have some of the included diseases, it does not mean that you get more money or that there is special treatment, it simply means you do not wait as long as others.
The SSA uses technology to detect immediately if your diagnosis is on the list. If it is, they prioritize your case and, in some states, they can even automatically request your digital medical history.
What is new?
There are 13 new diseases that have been added to this list, and now there are more than 300 medical conditions on the list!
And if we look at the history since this initiative was launched, more than 1.1 million people have obtained their approval faster thanks to this system, so for now it works perfectly!
These are the 13 diseases that have been added:
- Au-Kline Syndrome
- Bilateral Anophthalmia
- Carey-Fineman-Ziter Syndrome
- Harlequin Ichthyosis – Infantile
- Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
- LMNA-related Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
- Progressive Muscular Atrophy
- AL-type Pulmonary Amyloidosis
- Rasmussen Encephalitis
- Thymic Carcinoma
- Turnpenny-Fry Syndrome
- WHO Grade III Meningiomas
- Zhu-Tokita-Takenouchi-Kim Syndrome
And now what?
Frank J. Bisignano (commissioner of the SSA) said that the objective is to make the process as humane and efficient as possible and that these people with bad diagnoses can receive support as soon as possible and do not have to wait an eternity.
And although this news does not directly affect everyone, it does make clear that, at least in some aspects, the system is trying to be more agile. Something that cannot always be said about public paperwork in the United States.
If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with one of these diseases, it is worth knowing that now they have access to a faster way to apply for disability aid! It does not change the result, we are not going to make it heal by magic, but they will know that they have financial support that will not abandon them… And in these times where healthcare is practically a luxury, it means everything.