Currently, more than five million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. Since the onset of Alzheimer’s can occur in people before they retire, it may strike during an individual’s working years, preventing gainful employment as the disease progresses.

As a result, people with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers must figure out how they’ll pay for care. Social Security benefits and services are vital to people with early-onset Alzheimer’s who are unable to work and have no other source of income.

For more than a decade, Social Security has included early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in the list of Compassionate Allowances program.

The program identifies debilitating diseases and medical conditions so severe they meet our disability standards. Compassionate Allowances allow for faster processing of disability claims for individuals with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and several other neurodegenerative disorders.

You can read more about our Compassionate Allowances program at http://www.ssa.gov/compassionateallowances. To learn more about how Social Security disability insurance works and to apply for benefits, visit our disability page at http://www.ssa.gov/disability. Please share these resources with friends and family.

You can read more about Social Security’s Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease from the program manual at: SSA – POMS: DI 23022.385 – Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease – 09/16/2020.