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Cancer and Social Security Disability (SSDI) and SSIThis page will discuss Cancer and SSDI and SSI. There are many types of cancers and some may be a disability by
themselves while others may be disabling in combination with other impairments or the treatment for the cancer itself.
I will discuss the different ways Social Security looks at cancer and what it means to your case for disability.
The most common cancers according to the National Cancer Institute are bladder cancer, melanoma, breast cancer, non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma, colon and rectal cancer, pancreatic, endometrial, prostate, kidney, skin cancer (non-melanoma), leukemia, thyroid
cancer, and lung cancer. Even though these are the most common they are by no means the only cancers SSA considers when
determining if you are disabled. I will discuss more about how SSA determines if your cancer is disabling below.
For now, the important thing to know is that any cancer can be a disability. So how does this cancer limit you and prevent
you from working, because believe it or not most people who apply with cancer will not be on the list for compassionate allowances
and many will not meet or equal a listed impairment.
Find Disability Lawyer for Cancer On this page you'll find a link to the medical listings of impairments for cancer. It is important to remember that
you do not have to meet or equal a listed impairment to be found disabled and the same applies for different types of cancers.
On this page I provide a list of the cancers on the list for compassionate allowances. If your cancer is on this list then
your case is supposed to be singled out and you're supposed to get a quicker and favorable determination. However it is
important to note that even if you have the name of the cancer on the list you should read what it says after the name because
many of these cancers are common cancers and require a certain severity for you to be granted a compassionate allowance. For
example: breast cancer is on the list but only breast cancer with distant metastasis or inoperable or unresectable. It is
also important to note that this list of compassionate allowances is not the same thing as the medical listings of impairments.
If you have one of the cancers on the compassionate allowance list you are granted a quicker favorable determination. If your
cancer is not a list you can still meet or equal listed impairment however your case is not decided quicker or automatically
considered favorable as would be the case with the compassionate allowance.
Medical Listing of Impairments for CancerMost cancers are covered under the medical listing of impairment 13.00 Malignant Neoplastic Diseases. The specific listings are: 13.18 Large intestine 13.19 Liver or gallbladder 13.20 Pancreas 13.21
Kidneys, adrenal glands, or ureters-carcinoma 13.22 Urinary bladder-carcinoma 13.23 Cancers of the
female genital tract--carcinoma or sarcoma 13.24 Prostate gland--carcinoma 13.25 Testicles 13.26
Penis 13.27 Primary site unknown 13.28 Malignant neoplastic diseases treated by bone marrow or stem
cell transplantation To see any of the above medical listing in detail simply click on the link above.
Compassionate Allowance for CancersBelow you will find a list of cancers that are subject to an almost immediate and favorable determination. This list is a result of a new social security initiative to speed up claims for those with obvious and many times life-threatening disabilities. This list will not be found in the five step process that determines disability. Social Security has a program that looks for certain medical conditions and pulls them out for special consideration. If your cancer is on this list (at the severity required on the list) then you should be given a quick favorable determination. Compassionate allowances are a way of quickly identifying diseases and other medical conditions that invariably qualify under the Listing of Impairments based on minimal objective medical information. Compassionate allowances will allow Social Security to quickly target the most obviously disabled individuals for allowances based on objective medical information that we can obtain quickly. 1 Acute Leukemia
Disability for Cancers Not on List or in RemissionIf your cancer is not on the compassionate allowance list and you do not meet or equal a listed impairment you can still
be found disabled if you can show the limitations from your cancer, treatment, medications and possibly depression secondary
to the cancer would first keep you from performing your prior work and also keep you from performing substantial number of
other jobs. To understand how Social Security decides your case make sure to read my page were I explain how SSA determines if you are disabled. So what do I mean by limitations from the cancer. One example I see very often is people who have breast cancer often have
complications from their mastectomy. This may include limitations in reaching, lifting, using the the hands and arms. As can
be seen by my example even if the cancer is gone, the limitations caused by the cancer can continue to exist and limit
an individual to an extent that prevents them from substantial gainful employment. What is also common with people who were
diagnosed and treated for cancer is they develop depression secondary to this condition. You can see my page on depression and SSD and SSI on how limitations from this condition can significantly interfere with one's ability to work. The treatment is
often significantly limiting. Chemotherapy can cause fatigue, nausea, loss of weight, weakness and other side effects that
can significantly impact one's ability to work.
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