It is not uncommon for a person to wait many months or even years to get a final decision on their Social Security disability claim. Even when a claimant has a serious illness, the process is so convoluted that, up until now, there has never been an easy, cut-and-dry way for them to receive an approval and start receiving their benefits.

The number of people waiting for a hearing is staggering. For instance, in Fort Wayne, IN alone there are nearly 5,500 people waiting on a hearing. The average number of days a Fort Wayne resident must wait to receive a final decision is 600 days - almost 2 years. While waiting for a hearing many people are unable to afford healthcare, some lose their homes, and others have even passed away while waiting on their approval.

Fortunately, there is a new system in place for those with rare and serious illnesses. The system, called Compassionate Allowances, consists of a list of 50 illnesses that are immediately approved for benefits. The waiting time for people with these rare diseases and serious forms of cancer has been dramatically cut from months or years to mere days and weeks.

The 50 illnesses range from cancers such as gallbladder and kidney cancer, to severe diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease, aka ALS), Farber's disease and acute leukemia. The Social Security administration (SSA) is hoping to expand this list in the future, adding more medical conditions for immediate approval of social security disability benefits. As of now, the list is small and the medical conditions covered are very rare.

It does seem that the SSA is working toward change and progress. In addition to the Compassionate Allowances program, they also began the QDD, or Quick Disability Determination program, in late 2007, which uses a predictive model to expedite social security disability claims with clear medical evidence of disability. The SSA has also been working toward clearing out all cases over 900 days old, allowing video hearings for those who cannot make it to the hearing site, and are changing from a paper filing system to electronic files.

The current goal is to make the Compassionate Allowances list known to claimants, so they can take advantage of the new system.