You've worked hard your entire life, but now, a medical condition prevents you from holding a job. As the bills pile up, you wonder if you could qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits.
Phillip Hendry is an experienced Louisiana disability lawyer who can help clients understand the SSDI application process and improve their chances of getting approved for benefits. While no medical condition "automatically" qualifies you for SSDI, some conditions may put you on a faster track to approval.
The Social Security Blue Book
The Social Security Administration (SSA) maintains a Listing of Impairments, commonly known as the Blue Book, that outlines medical conditions considered severe enough to prevent a person from working. If your condition meets the criteria listed for a qualifying impairment, you may be approved for benefits more quickly.
The Blue Book is divided into adult and childhood listings, with 14 categories of impairments for each age group. Within each category, the Blue Book provides detailed medical criteria that must be met through clinical and laboratory findings. Our Louisiana disability lawyer can review your medical records to determine if your condition matches a disability Blue Book listing.
Examples of Qualifying Conditions
While the Blue Book contains an extensive list of qualifying conditions, some of the most common include:
- Musculoskeletal conditions, such as back injuries, spinal disorders, and amputation
- Cardiovascular conditions, such as coronary artery disease, heart failure, and peripheral artery disease
- Neurological disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and cerebral palsy
- Mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, autism, and intellectual disability
- Immune system disorders, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS, and inflammatory bowel disease
- Respiratory illnesses, such as COPD, asthma, cystic fibrosis, and lung transplantation
- Sensory impairments, such as hearing loss, vision loss, and loss of speech
- Cancer, depending on the type, location, response to treatment, and whether it has spread to other parts of the body
- Kidney disease and genitourinary disorders, such as chronic kidney disease and nephrotic syndrome
Remember that simply being diagnosed with a condition in the Blue Book doesn't guarantee approval. The SSA looks at the severity of your condition and how it limits your ability to work.
Compassionate Allowances
Some severe medical conditions may qualify you for expedited processing through the SSA's Compassionate Allowances (CAL) program. The CAL list includes conditions that typically qualify for disability based on minimal objective medical information.
Examples of CAL conditions include:
- Certain cancers, such as acute leukemia, liver cancer, and pancreatic cancer
- Early-onset Alzheimer's disease
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease)
- Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)
If you have a CAL condition, the SSA may approve your claim in weeks rather than the months it usually takes to process a disability claim.
Proving Your Disability Without a Blue Book Match
Even if your medical condition doesn't meet a Blue Book listing or qualify for a compassionate allowance, you may still be eligible for SSDI benefits through a medical-vocational allowance.
In these cases, the SSA will assess your residual functional capacity (RFC) to determine what work-related activities you can still perform despite your limitations.
Factors considered in an RFC analysis include:
- Exertional limitations, including your ability to sit, stand, walk, lift, carry, push, and pull
- Non-exertional limitations, such as your ability to maintain a work schedule, keep focus, remember and follow instructions, and interact appropriately with others
- Environmental restrictions, such as the need to avoid excessive noise, temperature extremes, or exposure to irritants
If the SSA determines that your RFC prevents you from performing your past work or adjusting to any other type of work, you may be approved for SSDI benefits.
The SSDI application process can be overwhelming, especially when you're already dealing with a serious medical condition. That’s why you need an experienced disability lawyer by your side.