If you have received a diagnosis for bladder cancer and the disease has made it difficult to hold down a job, you can expedite your Social Security disability benefits claim by referring to the compassionate allowance list.
Created by the Social Security Administration (SSA), the compassionate allowance list represents one of the conditions that automatically qualify you for disability benefits.
There are five features you should know about the compassionate allowance list, as well as understand how to qualify medically and what types of medical evidence you need to submit for a quick approval.
Overview of the Compassionate Allowance List,
In 2008, the SSA initiated a program called the Compassionate Allowance Initiative. Responding to public pressure, the SSA implemented the Compassionate Allowance Initiative to give severely disabled workers a faster track to gaining approval for Social Security disability benefits.
The Compassionate Allowance program includes a list that contains more than 200 medical conditions that qualify applicants for expedited consideration of their disability claims.
In many disability claim cases, an applicant that qualifies for a medical condition on the Compassionate Allowance list can receive financial assistance in just a few weeks.
Here are the five features of Compassionate Allowance:
- Fast approval
- No additional information required on the application
- Quicker compensation
- Medicare still offered after the typical waiting period
- Potential to receive retroactive payments
Qualifying for Compassionate Allowance with Bladder Cancer
Receiving a diagnosis for bladder cancer involves running several stage-based tests that detect the aggressiveness of the disease. There are five possible stages of medical cancer, with the first stage considered non-invasive and the last stage considered highly invasive.
After the first non-invasive stage, bladder cancer stages include a tumor moving through the lining of the bladder. An applicant that faces the highest stage of bladder cancer deals with a tumor spreading into neighboring organs.
Although bladder cancer symptoms differ depending on the stage, many patients suffer from fatigue, acute anemia, abdominal pain, and/or incontinence.
Patients that receive a stage IV bladder cancer diagnosis often go through chemotherapy to slow the spread of the tumors. If you suffer from bladder cancer with distant metastases or inoperable tumors, you may qualify for disability benefits under the guidelines established by the Compassionate Allowance list.
Medical Evidence Needed to Qualify
If you suffer from bladder cancer that has reached one of the advanced stages, you have to submit medical documents that demonstrate the severity of the disease.
To get your Compassionate Allowance for bladder cancer disability benefits approved, you should submit a summary of your family history with all types of cancer, with special attention paid to bladder cancer.
A physical examination conducted by your physician can present evidence of the symptoms, as well as display other health issues. If your doctor performs a digital rectal exam, you should send the results of the exam to the SSA.
You should also send the results of the following diagnostic tests:
- Urinalysis
- Urine cytology
- Urine tumor marker tests
- Biopsy
- Cystoscopy
- Imaging tests
Your physician should also send the SSA a report that details your prognosis. If you suffer from the untreatable last stage of bladder cancer, you can gain access to financial assistance quickly to pay for medical bills and daily living expenses.
Make sure your physician signs every document that you plan to submit to ensure your bladder cancer is one of the medical conditions that automatically qualifies you for disability benefits.
