What Conditions Automatically Qualify You For Disability?

Every year, over 10 million Americans receive automatic social security disability payments. These social security checks are meant for individuals with disabilities and impairments that prevent them from working for at least a year or are likely to cause death.

But to receive these social security payments, the applicants must fulfill certain criteria the SSA (Social Security Administration) set.

To qualify for the disability checks, you must prove that you cannot work as you did previously due to underlying conditions. This could be due to severe short-term or long-term conditions preventing you from doing your job.

But what qualifies you automatically for disability, and how can you claim it? Read on to find out more.

In this article, you’ll learn:

• What conditions automatically qualify you for disability, and what conditions does the social security administration consider to be most severe
• The most common conditions that qualify for SSDI
• What impacts your chances of approval 
• How Trajector can help you

What conditions automatically qualify you for disability

The most severe conditions will automatically qualify you for disability. However, if you’re looking to get social security disability checks, you might be confused about what the Social Security Administration considers acceptable for qualifying.

What qualifies for disability will differ, but the SSA has some conditions that must be met.

With the most severe conditions, there should be no doubt whether or not you qualify for the benefits. But, unfortunately, among these conditions are some more severe disabilities that prevent you from completing your job adequately.

Conditions that automatically qualify you for disability benefits include:

• Cancers – particularly advanced-stage cancers
• Cardiovascular and circulatory conditions – angina, hypertension, heart diseases, chronic heart failure
• Musculoskeletal and spinal problems – arthritis, fibromyalgia, back pain, RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy)
• Neurological disorders – Parkinson’s, epilepsy, ALS
• Blindness, hearing loss
• Mental disorders – dementia, mood disorders, depression, Asperger’s syndrome, autism, PTSD, schizophrenia

If you suffer from one of these conditions (or several), then your application will get expedited attention. These are close to a guarantee to get you access to social security benefits.

Some additional long-term conditions that automatically make you eligible for social security benefits are transplants. These include kidney, liver, heart, lung, or cochlear transplants.

The most common conditions that qualify for SSDI

The SSA (the Social Security Administration) receives thousands of applications for benefits each day. However, some conditions are more common than others and have a higher approval rate than others.

These are the top approved disabilities according to the SSA.

Arthritis

Arthritis is a crippling disability that prevents one from doing manual jobs and may severely impact basic tasks such as typing or moving around. That’s why it’s one of the most commonly approved conditions for disability benefits.

The Social Security Administration considers arthritis severe enough to automatically qualify you for benefits. This impairment is also common, although it might vary in severity. The more severe it is, the more likely it is to be approved for benefits.

Mental disorders

According to the SSA, mental disorders amount to up to 20% of all approved social security disability benefits. 

The scope of mental disorders is very broad. That’s because there’s an abundance of mental disabilities that can prevent you from doing your job adequately. The most common mental disorders include:

• Depression
• Mood disorders
• Schizophrenia
• Autism and Asperger’s syndrome
• Alcoholism and other addictions

But to qualify for benefits, one must first have a mental health disorder diagnosis. Most of these conditions prevent impacted individuals from acting independently, making them eligible to claim social security benefits.

Heart disease

Heart disease is one of the most widespread reasons Americans die yearly. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most common disorders that qualify for the social security disability claim – up to 10% of all applicants suffer from one form of heart disease.

Again, this type of disability is broad in scope. For example, the most common heart diseases include angina, high blood pressure, cardiac failure, coronary artery disease, and congenital heart defects.

Cancer

Cancer, particularly in its advanced stages, is one of the most common conditions that will automatically qualify you for social security benefits. 

Most cancers that qualify for benefits are at least stage II, but some are too aggressive and might automatically qualify, regardless of the stage. An example of this is liver cancer.

Degenerative disc disease

This degenerative musculoskeletal disorder mainly impacts people aged 60 and older. This medical condition might be disabling enough to prevent people from walking, standing up, or even sitting for long periods.

If this disorder gets severe enough, it can cause the person to become unable to work. As such, it is also one of the most commonly diagnosed disabilities in the United States and one of the main reasons many apply for social security disability checks.

What impacts your chances of approval 

Some factors can increase (or decrease) your chances of approval for social security benefits. 

Do you qualify for social security benefits? Then consider these factors as well.

• Your work history – most importantly, how long you have worked in the past. To become eligible for the benefits, you must have worked at least 5 of the last ten years, or 20 of the last 40 quarters.
• Income – to be eligible for the benefits, your income must be lower than the threshold – which will vary based on several factors, such as age and occupation. 
• Severity and adherence to disability standards – is your disability on the list severe enough to prevent you from working?
• Length of the disability – social security disability insurance is meant for those who haven’t worked for 12 months or longer, but the disability determination service may allow exceptions.

How Trajector can help you

At Trajector, we believe that everyone deserves the right to claim the benefits to which they are entitled. 

Trajector will help you claim your benefits. If you believe you fulfill the criteria for receiving social security benefits, we’ll help you develop and gather medical evidence proving you’re a fitting candidate. 

We take an individual approach to each and every client that chooses us, so we’ll develop a plan to help you specifically on your path to a better life.