Cancers that Automatically Qualify for Disability Benefits
Disability benefits offer valuable additional financial help for cancer patients. After all, cancer is a threatening disease that impacts your life and finances.
Cancer may cause debilitating disabilities that prevent you from working full-time, and you may have to skip work for your cancer treatments. Thus, you may earn less while battling cancer because you can’t work efficiently.
Now, you may wonder how you should claim disability benefits for cancer for financial help?
You may wonder if there are cancers that automatically qualify for disability insurance?
This article will answer these questions about cancer and disability benefits.
Qualifying for Disability Benefits if You have Cancer
The Social Security Administration (SSA) generally approves disability benefits applications for cancer patients who cannot complete regular full-time work. And a disability insurance applicant will only qualify if their health condition has or will last for at least a year.
Moreover, the SSA follows these particular qualifications when approving disability benefits applications for cancer patients:
1. SSA Blue Book Listing
SSA maintains the Blue Book listing as a guide for disability evaluation. For cancer patients, the SSA refers to Listing 13.0 to determine if a particular patient is eligible for benefits.
Listing 13.0 contains criteria for about 30 different cancers, like skin cancer, breast cancer, and brain cancer. And you should satisfy the standards for the particular cancer you have, depending on its origin.
For example, if you have kidney cancer that spreads to your bone, liver, or lungs, the SSA will refer to kidney cancer listing.
Calling a Burbank Social Security benefits attorney helps you know the correct Blue Book listing.
2. Residual Functional Capacity
In some situations, cancer patients may not satisfy the Blue Book listing, but the disease limits their ability to perform particular tasks. That’s when they should get a Residual Functional Capacity (RFC) evaluation.
A physician will use the RFC to determine the tasks you can complete despite your disability. You may qualify for disability benefits if the RFC proves your cancer has severely limited your capacity to work.
For instance, your cancer doesn’t meet the Blue Book criteria, but it causes excruciating pain that prevents you from working full-time. The RFC may prove you can only work for a few hours a day because of your condition, and you require more rest.
Automatic Disability Benefits Qualification for Cancer Patients
The SSA maintains the Compassionate Allowance program (CAP) that speeds up the disability benefits application for patients with severe cancer.
Patients with Stage IV or terminal cancer applying for disability benefits are generally eligible for CAP. However, a patient must satisfy at least one of these conditions to qualify. Cancer must:
- Have already spread beyond its origin organ.
- Keep on recurring despite continuous treatment.
- Be inoperable or isn’t suitable for surgery.
Moreover, some aggressive cancer types automatically qualify for disability benefits, like:
- Thyroid cancer
- Liver cancer
- Gallbladder cancer
- Brain cancer
- Pancreatic cancer
Proving Your Eligibility for Disability Benefits
Now, you have to confirm that your condition qualifies for disability insurance.
Start by collecting all your relevant medical documents, like your diagnosis, biopsy results, treatment records, and medical report. You must present hard medical evidence to support your application through the SSA evaluation processes.
Consulting a Burbank Social Security benefits attorney will also increase your chance of getting approved for disability benefits.
Hire a Social Security Benefits Lawyer in Burbank to Claim Cancer Disability Insurance
Cancer could be life-threatening. Receiving the disability benefits you deserve will help cover your financial difficulties while battling cancer.
A Burbank Social Security benefits attorney can help quicken your disability insurance claim process.