Social Security Just Made A Major Change To Disability Benefits

The Social Security Administration announced that 13 more medical conditions and diseases will be added to the agency's list of serious afflictions that will enable more adults and children to access disability benefits faster. Known as the Compassionate Allowances List, or CAL, the program expedites applications for disability for people suffering from 300 life-altering illnesses at a faster rate than most people applying for disability. The program includes the use of technology that will flag applications from people on the CAL list as well as process their applications at a faster rate and even obtain medical records if needed, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA).

The following conditions have been added to the Compassionate Allowances list: Au-Kline Syndrome, Bilateral Anophthalmia, Carey-Fineman-Ziter Syndrome, Harlequin Ichthyosis — Child, Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, LMNA-related Congenital Muscular Dystrophy, Progressive Muscular Atrophy, Pulmonary Amyloidosis — AL Type, Rasmussen Encephalitis, Thymic Carcinoma, Turnpenny-Fry Syndrome, WHO Grade III Meningiomas and Zhu-Tokita-Takenouchi-Kim Syndrome.

When the program started in October 2008, there were just 50 afflictions on the compassionate list, 25 of which were cancers and the other half were afflictions such as rare genetic disorders for children, adult brain disorders, immune system conditions, early-onset Alzheimer's disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease), per a report from GAO (Government Accountability Office). Since then, additional serious conditions, many of which are considered terminal, were added on the list based on reports from medical and scientific experts as well as suggestions from the community, according to non-profit organization Citizens Disability.

Those in the CAL program can see their applications dealt with far faster than the several months or years it takes to process a typical disability claim, per the SSA. Yet they will receive the same benefits as everyone else on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). For someone on SSDI that means an average payment of $1,444.90 a month, according to SSA statistics from July 2025. In regards to SSI, the maximum possible payment is $967 a month. And unless the person on disability is a retiree already on the Social Security program, affordable healthcare through Medicare will usually not be provided until after someone is on disability for two years, per SSA, although those with end-stage renal disease can receive Medicare a month after being on dialysis or receiving a kidney transplant. For people afflicted with ALS, Medicare can be received three months after receiving outpatient dialysis treatment.

Still, those benefits will be a huge help for people facing life-threatening and terminal illnesses, advocates say. "By speeding up the process, Social Security helps to ensure that individuals and their families receive support as quickly as possible without long, bureaucratic delays," Linda Cosme, Citizens Disability vice president of disability policy and strategy, said in a YouTube video.

At the same time, the Trump Administration is cutting benefits for people on disability. This includes an administrative action that may end or cut SSI payments for nearly 400,000 recipients who live with someone else on assistance, according to a report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The SSA is also planning a big change to Medicare in 2026, which may delay in certain treatments for Medicare recipients in six states.

Part of the reason for these cuts is to pay for tax cuts under the One Beautiful Bill Act, including new deductions for seniors. Yet those same deductions may lead to the bankruptcy of the trust fund that funds Social Security, according to a report from The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB). And while insolvency leading to the end of Social Security are among the 13 worst myths about the program, the CRFB warns that the financial crunch could mean couples retiring in 2033 will receive $18,100 a year less in benefits.