Happy 100th Birthday, Woody Guthrie!

[underpants]

6. HUGE ----Social Security Announces Addition of Adult Onset Huntington's Disease

Social Security Announces Addition of Adult Onset Huntington's Disease To The Compassionate Allowance List

Social Security Commission Michael J. Astrue announced today that Adult Onset Huntington's disease will be added to the Compassionate Allowance List in December, 2012. This news follows the addition of Juvenile Huntington's disease to the Compassionate Allowance List effective in August, 2012.

Compassionate Allowances are a way of quickly identifying diseases and other medical conditions that invariably qualify under the statutory standard for disability. The Compassionate Allowances program fast-tracks disability decisions to ensure that Americans with the most serious disabilities receive their benefit decisions within days instead of months or years.

This is an important victory for our families, and HDSA is proud to have led this advocacy effort. HDSA has maintained a dialogue with SSA since 2004 to streamline the Disability process for HD. Since the inception of the Compassionate Allowances program in 2007, HDSA has been advocating for a CAL designation for HD through letters, testimony at hearings, and face-to-face meetings and most recently, in a November 2011 meeting with Commissioner Astrue and SSA senior officials.
http://www.hdsa.org/living-with-huntingtons/ssa-announced-addition-of-adult-onset-hd-to-compassionate-allowance-list.html