• 30
  • December
    2011

When someone is feeling under the weather, the main concern is recovering as fast as possible. If the illness is serious enough to keep a person out of work for an extended period of time, the worker may need to look for additional sources of income while they recover. Some may even apply for Social Security Disability if their condition will keep them out of work for an entire year.

For those who will eventually recover from their illnesses, the wait to receive benefits will be frustrating. The initial application and appeals process are time-consuming, meaning that many people might have recovered by the time their claims have been finalized. But what happens to those individuals who are suffering from a terminal illness?

Unfortunately, some of these SSD applicants die during the process. In fact, the Social Security Administration (SSA) even has a specific code that it uses to signify that the applicant has passed away. Since 2005, the SSA's statistics show that over 15,000 applicants have died while their request for benefits was going through the process.

The agency has introduced various initiatives designed to improve the initial application and appeals stages for those with terminal illnesses. The SSA has increased the list of items on its compassionate allowances list, which means that certain conditions will allow an applicant to have his or her case examined immediately in the hopes that benefits can be awarded in a timely manner.

While this has helped, serious problems still remain. Applicants with conditions not on the list may still find themselves suffering long waits, unable to receive the benefits they need while pursuing treatment. Applicants, especially those with terminal illnesses, need to know what to file with their requests for benefits. Any information that is missing may lead to their requests being denied and benefits being delayed.