Heart disease remains the number one cause of death in the United States according to the American Heart Association’s most recent available data. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) claims more lives each year than all forms of cancer and chronic respiratory disease combined. With so many people suffering from heart-related illness, there are many heart conditions that will qualify for Social Security Disability (SSD) and/or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits.

Here at London Eligibility, the disability law office of Attorney Scott London specializes in getting every eligible person living with a qualifying disability the maximum benefit possible from the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) benefit programs. Let us help you get the benefit payments you deserve. Contact us at the number below.

What Heart Conditions Qualify for Disability Benefit Payments?

The Social Security Administration publishes a list of impairments that qualify for disability benefits if they meet the criteria identified by SSA. The listing is referred to as the “Blue Book,” and meeting the specific condition shown under any of the listed impairments will mean the person’s disability claim will be approved.

However, even if your individual impairment does not meet all of the required criteria for a specific listed disability, you may still get disability benefit payments if the documentary evidence you submit with your application supports a finding that your impairment is severe enough to prevent you from obtaining and maintaining steady full-time employment.

Among the most common heart conditions the Social Security Administration approves for disability benefits are the following:

• 1). chronic (congestive) heart failure or ventricular dysfunction
• 2). myocardial ischemia
• 3). recurrent arrhythmias
• 4). symptomatic congenital heart disease
• 5). heart transplant
• 6). aneurysm of aorta or of another major branch
• 7). chronic venous insufficiency
• 8). recurrent arrythmias

Each of these heart conditions is listed in the Blue Book along with the severity and other criteria necessary to automatically meet the requirements for disability benefits to be approved. The SSA specifies a variety of measurements, test results, imaging records, and other features of each illness that will meet the standard necessary for benefits. But remember that the Blue Book listing is only one way to win approval of disability benefits.

Congestive Heart Failure (CHF): The hears is restricted from pumping a sufficient amount of blood. The reason for the development of the heart failure could atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries), cardiomyopathy, hypertension, or rheumatic, congenital, or other heart disease. Whatever the origin of the illness, the SSA treats the claims similarly, relying on test results and other objective findings to validate the presence and severity of the condition. To qualify for total disability, your heart must be functioning at 30% capacity, and you must be experiencing pain even when you are not exerting yourself.

Myocardial (Heart) Ischemia: This illness is usually a precursor to a heart attack and is the result of insufficient oxygen being carried through your blood vessels. The SSA often wants to see confirmatory test results from an angiography or an unsatisfactory performance on a stress test.

Recurrent Arrhythmias: This condition involves a dysfunction in the heart which causes it to race and/or beat slowly on a recurring basis. The illness becomes qualified for total disability if the suffer losses consciousness or nearly loses consciousness on a regular basis due to this condition.

Symptomatic Congenital Heart Disease: There are many types of heart conditions that a person can be born with (congenital) and which cause severe challenges in their life. Symptoms can include irregular heart rhythms, blue skin and lips and fingernails (cyanosis), shortness of breath, quick onset of fatigue with any activity, swelling of organs or tissue (edema).

Heart Transplant: The seriousness of a heart transplant is automatically deemed a total disability by the Social Security Administration for the first year. Following that time, the SSA will consider the extent to which the patient has improved and it will determine whether they have sufficient residual functioning capacity to resume some employment.

Aneurisms: – Aneurisms occur because of weakness in the wall of a blood vessel, usually the major vessel in the blood stream, the aorta. The weakness in the wall tissue allows the formation of a kind of bubble pressing out of the aorta. If it ruptures, whether it’s an aortic aneurism or one in the brain or elsewhere, the hemorrhage is often uncontrollable and results in death. SSA recognizes the condition as totally disabling if confirmed by medical imaging or unsuccessful treatment following a dissection performed in hopes to cut the aneurism out and to rejoin the aortic tissue.

Chronic Venous Insufficiency: Those suffering from this illness are unable to pump blood back up from their legs, causing difficulty or inability to stand and the formation of ulcers. When the ulcers remain unhealed for a period of three months or more, SSA will approve disability benefits.