2024 Compassionate Allowance List for Disability Benefits
The compassionate allowance program is an important resource for disability applicants to know about. If your condition is on the compassionate allowance list, you automatically qualify for benefits and will get those benefits more quickly.
It’s important to note that most people who receive disability benefits are not on the compassionate allowance list. Even if your condition isn’t on the list, there are still steps you can take to give yourself a better chance of getting approved.
Find out what conditions are listed in 2024, how much compassionate allowance is, and what you should do if you don’t qualify for the program.
What is compassionate allowance?
Compassionate allowance is a Social Security program encompassing certain diseases that are eligible for disability. By using a compassionate allowance list, the SSA can easily identify compassionate allowance cases and make quick decisions—which means people with serious medical issues can get disability more quickly.
Compassionate allowance conditions primarily include certain cancers; adult brain disorders; and rare disorders that affect children. The SSA creates the list of conditions by using:
Information from the public
Comments received from the Social Security and Disability Determination Service Communities
Counsel from medical and scientific experts
Research with the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Information received from past public outreach hearings
The compassionate allowance program speeds up the process of applying for disability benefits. Essentially, if you have a condition on the compassionate allowance list, your case will be fast-tracked for approval to start receiving benefits (as long as you meet all other requirements).
The compassionate allowance list in 2024
Here is the SSA’s list of compassionate allowance conditions in 2024:
1p36 Deletion Syndrome Acute Leukemia Adrenal Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent Adult Heart Transplant Wait List - Status Levels 1-4 Adult Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Adult Onset Huntington Disease Aicardi-Goutieres Syndrome Alexander Disease (ALX) - Neonatal and Infantile Allan-Herndon-Dudley Syndrome Alobar Holoprosencephaly Alpers Disease Alpha Mannosidosis - Type II and III ALS/Parkinsonism Dementia Complex Alstrom Syndrome Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Anaplastic Adrenal Cancer - Adult with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent Anaplastic Ependymoma Angelman Syndrome Angiosarcoma Aortic Atresia Aplastic Anemia Astrocytoma - Grade III and IV Ataxia Telangiectasia Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumor Bainbridge-Ropers Syndrome Batten Disease Beta Thalassemia Major Bilateral Optic Atrophy- Infantile Bilateral Retinoblastoma Bladder Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable Breast Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable Canavan Disease (CD) CACH--Vanishing White Matter Disease-Infantile and Childhood Onset Forms Calciphylaxis Carcinoma of Unknown Primary Site Cardiac Amyloidosis- AL Type Caudal Regression Syndrome - Types III and IV CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder Cerebro Oculo Facio Skeletal (COFS) Syndrome Cerebrotendinous Xanthomatosis Charlevoix-Saguenay Spastic Ataxia (New) Child Heart Transplant Wait List - Status Levels 1A/1B Child Lymphoblastic Lymphoma Child Lymphoma Child Neuroblastoma - with distant metastases or recurrent Cholangiocarcinoma Chondrosarcoma - with multimodal therapy Choroid Plexus Carcinoma (New) Chronic Idiopathic Intestinal Pseudo Obstruction Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) - Blast Phase CIC-rearranged Sarcoma (New) Coffin-Lowry Syndrome Congenital Lymphedema Congenital Myotonic Dystrophy Congenital Zika Syndrome (New) Cornelia de Lange Syndrome - Classic Form Corticobasal Degeneration Costello Syndrome Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) – Adult Cri du Chat Syndrome Degos Disease - Systemic DeSanctis Cacchione Syndrome Desmoplastic Mesothelioma (New) Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumors Dravet Syndrome Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy- Adult (New) Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease Edwards Syndrome (Trisomy 18) Eisenmenger Syndrome Endometrial Stromal Sarcoma Endomyocardial Fibrosis Ependymoblastoma (Child Brain Cancer) Erdheim Chester Disease Esophageal Cancer Esthesioneuroblastoma Ewing Sarcoma Farber Disease (FD) – Infantile Fatal Familial Insomnia Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva Fibrolamellar Cancer Follicular Dendritic Cell Sarcoma - metastatic or recurrent FOXG1 Syndrome Friedreichs Ataxia (FRDA) Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), Picks Disease -Type A – Adult Fryns Syndrome Fucosidosis - Type 1 Fukuyama Congenital Muscular Dystrophy Fulminant Giant Cell Myocarditis Galactosialidosis - Early and Late Infantile Types Gallbladder Cancer Gaucher Disease (GD) - Type 2 Giant Axonal Neuropathy Glioblastoma Multiforme (Brain Cancer) Glioma Grade III and IV Glutaric Acidemia - Type II | GM1 Gangliosidosis - Infantile and Juvenile Forms Head and Neck Cancers - with distant metastasis or inoperable or unresectable Heart Transplant Graft Failure Heart Transplant Wait List - 1A/1B Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) - Familial Type Hepatoblastoma Hepatopulmonary Syndrome Hepatorenal Syndrome Histiocytic Malignancies Histiocytosis Syndromes Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson Syndrome Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome Hydranencephaly Hypocomplementemic Urticarial Vasculitis Syndrome Hypophosphatasia Perinatal (Lethal) and Infantile Onset Types Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome I Cell Disease Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Infantile Free Sialic Acid Storage Disease Infantile Neuroaxonal Dystrophy (INAD) Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) Intracranial Hemangiopericytoma Jervell and Lange-Nielsen Syndrome Joubert Syndrome Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa - Lethal Type Juvenile Onset Huntington Disease Kidney Cancer - inoperable or unresectable Kleefstra Syndrome Krabbe Disease (KD) – Infantile Kufs Disease - Type A and B Large Intestine Cancer - with distant metastasis or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent> Late Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses Leber Congenital Amaurosis Leigh’s Disease Leiomyosarcoma Leptomeningeal Carcinomatosis Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome (LNS) Lewy Body Dementia Liposarcoma - metastatic or recurrent Lissencephaly Liver Cancer Lowe Syndrome Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis - Grade III Malignant Brain Stem Gliomas – Childhood Malignant Ectomesenchymoma Malignant Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor Malignant Germ Cell Tumor Malignant Multiple Sclerosis Malignant Renal Rhabdoid Tumor Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL) Maple Syrup Urine Disease Marshall-Smith Syndrome Mastocytosis - Type IV MECP2 Duplication Syndrome Medulloblastoma - with metastases Megacystis Microcolon Intestinal Hypoperistalsis Syndrome Megalencephaly Capillary Malformation Syndrome Menkes Disease - Classic or Infantile Onset Form Merkel Cell Carcinoma - with metastases Merosin Deficient Congenital Muscular Dystrophy Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD) - Late Infantile Metastatic Endometrial Adenocarcinoma Mitral Valve Atresia Mixed Dementias MPS I, formerly known as Hurler Syndrome MPS II, formerly known as Hunter Syndrome MPS III, formerly known as Sanfilippo Syndrome Mucosal Malignant Melanoma Multicentric Castleman Disease Multiple System Atrophy Myoclonic Epilepsy with Ragged Red Fibers Syndrome Neonatal Adrenoleukodystrophy Neonatal Marfan Syndrome Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation - Types 1 and 2 NFU-1 Mitochondrial Disease Nicolaides-Baraister Syndrome Niemann-Pick Disease (NPD) - Type A Niemann-Pick Disease-Type C Nonketotic Hyperglycinemia Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Obliterative Bronchiolitis Ohtahara Syndrome Oligodendroglioma Brain Cancer- Grade III Ornithine Transcarbamylase (OTC) Deficiency Orthochromatic Leukodystrophy with Pigmented Glia | Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) - Type II Osteosarcoma, formerly known as Bone Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable Ovarian Cancer – with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable PACS1 Syndrome Pallister-Killian Syndrome Pancreatic Cancer Paraneoplastic Cerebellar Degeneration Paraneoplastic Pemphigus Patau Syndrome (Trisomy 13) Pearson Syndrome Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease-Classic Form Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease-Connatal Form Pericardial Mesothelioma (New) Peripheral Nerve Cancer - metastatic or recurrent Peritoneal Mesothelioma Peritoneal Mucinous Carcinomatosis Perry Syndrome Phelan-McDermid Syndrome Pineoblastoma - Childhood Pitt Hopkins Syndrome Plasmablastic Lymphoma Pleural Mesothelioma Pompe Disease – Infantile Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma Primary Effusion Lymphoma Primary Omental Cancer Primary Peritoneal Cancer Primary Progressive Aphasia Progressive Bulbar Palsy Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Prostate Cancer - Hormone Refractory Disease – or with visceral metastases Pulmonary Atresia Pulmonary Kaposi Sarcoma Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma (New) Renal Medullary Carcinoma Renpenning Syndrome (New) Retinopathy of Prematurity - Stage V Rett (RTT) Syndrome Revesz Syndrome Rhabdomyosarcoma Rhizomelic Chondrodysplasia Punctata Richter Syndrome Roberts Syndrome Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome Salivary Cancers Sarcomatoid Carcinoma of the Lung - Stages II - IV Sandhoff Disease Schindler Disease - Type 1 SCN8A Related Epilepsy with Encephalopathy (New) Seckel Syndrome Secondary Adenocarcinoma of the Brain Severe Combined Immunodeficiency - Childhood Single Ventricle Sinonasal Cancer Sjogren-Larsson Syndrome Skin Malignant Melanoma with Metastases Small Cell Cancer (Large Intestine, Prostate or Thymus) Small Cell Cancer of the Female Genital Tract Small Cell Lung Cancer Small Intestine Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent Smith Lemli Opitz Syndrome Snijders Blok-Campeau Syndrome Soft Tissue Sarcoma - with distant metastases or recurrent Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) - Types 0 and 1 Spinal Nerve Root Cancer-metastatic or recurrent Spinocerebellar Ataxia Stiff Person Syndrome Stomach Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis Superficial Siderosis of the Central Nervous System SYNGAP1-related NSID (New) Tabes Dorsalis Tay Sachs Disease - Infantile Type Taybi-Linder Syndrome (New) Tetrasomy 18p Thanatophoric Dysplasia - Type 1 Thyroid Cancer Transplant Coronary Artery Vasculopathy Tricuspid Atresia Trisomy 9 Ullrich Congenital Muscular Dystrophy Ureter Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent Usher Syndrome - Type I Ventricular Assist Device Recipient - Left, Right, or Biventricular Walker Warburg Syndrome Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome Wolman Disease X-Linked Lymphoproliferative Disease X-Linked Myotubular Myopathy Xeroderma Pigmentosum Zellweger Syndrome |
How much is compassionate allowance?
Compassionate allowance benefits for Social Security disability are the same amount as other benefits. The only difference is you should be able to get them faster.
For individuals on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), the maximum payment available is $3,822 per month. If you end up on Supplemental Security Income (SSI), you should receive a maximum of $943 per month in 2024.
Your specific benefits will vary based on factors such as your work history and assets. You can estimate your SSDI monthly benefit by creating a mySocialSecurity account on SSA.gov and using the site’s benefits calculator.
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$1,489
What should I do if my condition is on the list?
If your condition is on the compassionate allowance list, here’s where you need to start.
Apply for Social Security benefits
First, apply for Social Security benefits. Be clear about the extent of your condition. Since your case is considered compassionate allowance, you shouldn’t need a lawyer—most likely, you’ll be approved the first time you apply.
While the application is certainly a lot of paperwork to wade through on your own, finding a lawyer for compassionate allowance cases can be difficult and time-consuming because the lawyer will essentially be taking your case for free. And chances are, you’ll be quickly approved anyway, so there’s no need to spend the time searching for an attorney.
Call your local Social Security office
Once you’ve applied, call your local Social Security office. You can find their number by searching online for “Social Security + [your ZIP code]” or entering your ZIP code here.
When you speak with somebody, explain that you’ve applied for disability benefits and your case is compassionate allowance. Verify that your application was received. Then inform the office your case should be flagged as urgent because of your condition.
It can also be helpful to include any photos of yourself that can serve as medical evidence to demonstrate or “prove” your condition.
What should I do if I’m not on the list?
If your condition isn’t on the compassionate allowance list, don’t panic! Most disability applicants are not on the list. While your process might take longer, you could still have a great case. There are a couple of things you’ll want to keep in mind.
Work with a lawyer
Disability applicants who do not qualify for the compassionate allowance program will likely need to work with a lawyer. While this isn’t mandatory, your chances of winning disability with a lawyer are three times better than if you try to apply on your own.
A lawyer will help you:
Review your case
Submit your application
Obtain medical records
Navigate the appeals process
Prepare for your hearing
Handle post-hearing filings and appeals
Consider filing for Dire Need
Filing for Dire Need is a way to expedite your application even if your case isn’t considered compassionate allowance. The SSA lists the following situations that qualify as Dire Need:
You don’t have food and can’t get any.
You don’t have medicine or medical care and can’t get any, or access to the medical care you need is restricted due to lack of resources.
You don’t have shelter (for instance, you’re homeless, you’re about to be evicted, or your house doesn’t have necessary utilities).
If any of these apply to you, your case may be able to be flagged as Dire Need, which can help the process move more quickly.
Moving forward with compassionate allowance
If you don’t fall under the compassionate allowance program, you’ll most likely need a lawyer to help with your case—and even if your condition is on the compassionate allowance list, you may still want a pro-bono lawyer who can help streamline your application even more.
That’s what we offer here at Atticus. We can provide legal advice at no cost, matching you up with a lawyer from our network of vetted attorneys. Click here to take a short quiz on your situation and learn how we can help.
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Other conditions that can qualify for disability:
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) | OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) |
Related resources:
Compassionate Allowance List 2023 (And What To Do If Your Condition is On It)
What Medical Conditions Qualify for Social Security Disability? (Updated 2023)
How long has your condition made it hard to work?
Jackie Jakab
Lead Attorney
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