The Commissioner of Social Security held a public hearing on compassionate allowances in autoimmune disorder cases on March 16.
Just last week I met with three new clients suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus, (SLE) an autoimmune disorder, or at least one that is frequently classified as an autoimmune disorder. These days I am taking on more multiple sclerosis (MS) cases than ever before. MS can also be characterized as an autoimmune disorder.
Is anything the Commissioner doing with compassionate allowances going to help my SLE or MS clients? Not likely. Can anyone give me an example of someone who would be helped by compassionate allowances who wouldn't have been quickly approved anyway?
As pet projects go, compassionate allowances is innocuous. It is certainly better than former Commissioner Barnhart's Disability Service Improvement (DSI) fiasco although DSI included "Quick Disability Determinations" (QDD) for those who were "obviously disabled." I have not seen any explanation of the difference between QDD and compassionate allowances. As a practical matter, I do not think there is a difference beyond the fact that Astrue is Commissioner and Barnhart is gone.
Just last week I met with three new clients suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus, (SLE) an autoimmune disorder, or at least one that is frequently classified as an autoimmune disorder. These days I am taking on more multiple sclerosis (MS) cases than ever before. MS can also be characterized as an autoimmune disorder.
Is anything the Commissioner doing with compassionate allowances going to help my SLE or MS clients? Not likely. Can anyone give me an example of someone who would be helped by compassionate allowances who wouldn't have been quickly approved anyway?
As pet projects go, compassionate allowances is innocuous. It is certainly better than former Commissioner Barnhart's Disability Service Improvement (DSI) fiasco although DSI included "Quick Disability Determinations" (QDD) for those who were "obviously disabled." I have not seen any explanation of the difference between QDD and compassionate allowances. As a practical matter, I do not think there is a difference beyond the fact that Astrue is Commissioner and Barnhart is gone.
1 comment:
Compassionate allowance requirements are published in the POMS and elsewhere; QDD requirments are incorporated into a "predictive model" and are not published.
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