Does Alzheimer’s Qualify for Disability Benefits?

The number of people age 65 and older currently living with Alzheimer’s disability in the United States is estimated at 7.2 million, but it also affects younger people. About 200,000 Americans between the ages of 30 and 64 live with early-onset Alzheimer’s.

Social Security disability benefits can ease the financial burden of being unable to work while too young to collect retirement benefits. The disability benefits team at Sackett and Associates wants to help you navigate the application process for Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance benefits.

Get started with this overview of the initial application process for SSDI and SSI cognitive impairment benefits. Then contact Sackett Law for a free consultation.

What is Alzheimer’s, and is it a disability?

Dementia is a brain disorder that gradually impairs a person’s cognitive functioning and behavioral abilities. The individual’s ability to think, remember, and reason gradually declines. They also experience impairments in performing daily tasks that were once commonplace, such as walking and eating. The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s disease causes proteins to build up in the brain. The protein buildup eventually causes brain cells to die, leading to brain shrinkage. Early symptoms generally include memory impairment, such as forgetting recent events or conversations.

As the disease progresses, symptoms worsen and may include:

1. Memory continues to worsen: The person may begin misplacing things, repeating statements, forgetting words and names, and becoming lost in what were familiar places.
2. Difficulty concentrating and thinking: Numbers and other abstract concepts become increasingly challenging to manage.
3. Impaired judgement and decision making: A person may have trouble with commonplace problems, such as deciding what clothes to wear when going outside on a rainy day.
4. Performing familiar tasks: Anything that involves planning or following directions, such as cooking or playing a board game, may be too challenging for a person with Alzheimer’s disease to manage.
5. Personality and behavior changes: A person may experience depression, mood swings, social withdrawal, sleep disruption, delusions, unprovoked anger, and distrust of others.

Some symptoms may be caused by conditions other than Alzheimer’s disease, so the first step for anyone noticing changes in themselves or in a loved one should be an appointment with a healthcare professional.

Diagnosis And Treatment Of Alzheimer’s Disease

An appointment with a healthcare professional may begin with a review of your family and medical history, including a discussion of your symptoms. Bringing someone who has witnessed your symptoms may help your healthcare provider.

A physical examination will be performed. Your doctor may also conduct a neurological examination. Tests that your provider may order to support a diagnosis can include:

1. Blood screening
2. MRI of the brain
3. Cognitive testing
4. CT scan
5. PET scan
6. Urine analysis

Your provider may refer you to a specialist for a psychiatric and mental health evaluation.

Currently, no cure exists for Alzheimer’s disease, so you may wonder why your doctor suggests treatment options for you. Treatment may manage symptoms or slow the progression of the disease. Treatments may include:

1. Enzyme-blocking medication to slow the damage to the brain caused by the disease.
2. Treatments to target and destroy the proteins that build up in the brain of someone with Alzheimer’s.
3. Medications targeting substances in the brain caused by Alzheimer’s that destroy brain cells in order to slow the progression of the disease.

Doctors also may recommend medications to treat depression, agitation, and other symptoms of the disease.

Applying For Disability Benefits For Alzheimer’s Disease

The application review process for Social Security disability benefits depends on evidence of a medical condition that meets the Social Security Administration disability definition. You would need to prove an inability to do substantial gainful work activities due to a medically diagnosable physical or mental impairment expected to result in death or to last for at least 12 months.

Alzheimer’s disease with advanced cognitive symptoms severe enough to prevent a person from doing work activities may meet the SSA definition for disability. The SSA compiled a listing of impairments it deems severe enough to meet the definition. Alzheimer’s disease may be approved through listing 11.00, neurological impairments, or listing 12.00, mental disorders.

A person may be approved for memory loss SSDI benefits without meeting or being equivalent to an SSA listing, with evidence of their inability to do past relevant work or adjust to doing other types of work. The assistance of a disability lawyer can be critical with the initial application, as well as during the appeals process to challenge a denial of the claim.

Get Assistance From Experienced Disability Lawyers

The disability lawyers at Sackett and Associates have been assisting people nationwide with disability claims for more than four decades. Let us put our knowledge of the disability claims process to work helping with your Alzheimer’s disability claim. We work with your healthcare providers to ensure your claim includes the necessary medical evidence it needs for success. Contact Sackett Law today for a free consultation.