When Does Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease Qualify for Compassionate Allowance?

When Does Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease Qualify for Compassionate Allowance?

Have you or someone you love recently been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease and are you wondering if that may help you qualify for Social Security disability benefits?

My name is Kaitlin Wildoner and I’m an attorney who helps disabled clients obtain their disability benefits as quickly as possible so they can focus on getting better. 

Today, we’re going to discuss when early onset Alzheimer’s disease can qualify for the Social Security Disability compassionate allowance program. Early onset Alzheimer’s disease is the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease in an individual younger than age 65 and accounts for roughly 5 to 10 percent of all cases of Alzheimer’s. 

Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative irreversible brain disease that usually affects older people and causes dementia, characterized by the gradual loss of their cognitive abilities, including their memory, language, judgment, and the ability to function. Physiological changes in the brain include rampant growth of two abnormal structures which tends to interrupt the normal brain activity. 

The onset of Alzheimer’s disease tends to be subtle memory impairment that quickly turns into learning and language impairments. It’s not uncommon for Alzheimer’s disease to first manifest as a decline or loss in your ability to perform work-related activities. In the earlier stages of Alzheimer’s disease, depression tends to be a common complaint. In later stages, agitation, changes in personality and behavior, restlessness, and withdrawal become really evident.

There’s unfortunately no specific clinical or laboratory diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s disease and the diagnosis can only be confirmed by a brain biopsy or a postmortem examination of the brain. The diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s disease tends to be based on the combination of clinical and family history; neurological, cognitive, or neuropsychological examinations; and neuroimaging. Pertinent clinical information includes the history of the onset and a description of the cognitive and functional impairments, both at home and at work. Neuroimaging, such as a CT or an MRI can also be useful for observing changes made in the brain and for excluding other causes of dementia.

Social Security tends to evaluate early onset Alzheimer’s disease using Listing 11.17 or Listing 2.02. When evaluating early onset Alzheimer’s disease cases, Social Security is looking for clinical information that documents progressive dementia. In order for Social Security to properly evaluate a disability case under early onset Alzheimer’s disease, Social Security will use the clinical record from the claimant’s doctors, any activities of daily living reports that are filled out by the individual filing for disability benefits (or even a relative or a caretaker), as well as potential testing, such as the clinical dementia score.

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