If you live with a digestive disorder, you may experience discomfort and possibly pain on a daily basis. That pain and discomfort may make it difficult for you to engage in your everyday activities, including work. Yet, you need an income, so must you just push through the discomfort and do your job as normal?
Not necessarily. Certain programs, including Social Security Disability, cover digestive disorders. The Social Security Administration details the kinds of digestive disorders that may qualify for benefits under SSD.
Digestive disorders the SSA considers
The SSA will not provide benefits for all digestive orders, but it does cover quite a few. Disorders of the digestive system it will cover include the following:
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Short bowel syndrome
- Malnutrition
- Gastrointestinal hemorrhage
- Hepatic dysfunction
The SSA also covers many digestive disorders that are also at risk of resulting in complications, such as obstruction. It may also cover disorders that manifest in other symptoms throughout the body.
Required documentation for benefits
To qualify for SSD, you must provide extensive documentation and medical records. For a digestive disorder, your documentation should include imaging studies and reports of pathology, operations or endoscopy. The type of documentation necessary should match the appropriate listing. It should also detail the severity of your disorder, as well as its duration.
Per the SSA, acceptable imaging includes sonography, x-ray imaging, CAT scans, MRIs and radionuclide scans. The findings from the scans must be from within the period you claim on your application.
If a digestive disorder disrupts your health and your life, you may find financial relief via SSD. If you truly need time off to recover, get help with the application today.
