Help for People with Early-Onset Alzheimer's

Great news for people with early-onset Alzheimer's disease and their families. Today the national Alzheimer's Association here in the US sent out an email regarding a breakthrough with the Social Security Administration (SSA).

The SSA has announced that it will streamline the application process and decrease the wait time for benefits for people with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

I have heard that this process is slow and onerous and a real barrier for families to receive benefits when one of their family members is disabled with early-onset Alzheimer's and that some benefits are largely unavailable to people with early-onset as they are under age 65. To circumvent this issue, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has added early-onset/younger onset Alzheimer's to the list of conditions under its Compassionate Allowance Initiative, giving those with the disease expedited access to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and a way in to Medicaid for those under age 65.

What I like is that for the first time, Alzheimer's disease is being classified as a disease that causes a disability. Can this be one of the first steps in changing the stigma against Alzheimer's in general?

For detailed information, please see the Alzheimer's Association Web site.

The national Alzheimer's Association has been advocating for changes like this since 2003, so it's about time! Good work everyone!