Can you get Social Security disability for anemia?

If you or someone you know is suffering from anemia and is unable to work because of it, you may be entitled to Social Security disability benefits.

As an Indianapolis Social Security disability attorney, I have represented individuals with disabilities throughout the state of Indiana. If you have a physical or mental condition that is preventing you from working, you may be entitled to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, or both.

What anemia is, and why it can keep you from working

Individuals who suffer from anemia have a lower than normal red blood cell count. Anemia can be caused by a variety of things that include but are not limited to poor diet, pregnancy, kidney failure, and problems with bone marrow. While individuals may experience different symptoms from anemia, some common symptoms include fatigue, chest pain, dizziness, and problems concentrating.

Those symptoms are the reason anemia matters to a disability claim. Severe fatigue affects how long you can stay on task and how many days a week you can show up. Trouble concentrating affects the pace and accuracy of your work. Employers do not generally tolerate frequent unscheduled absences or a worker who needs unscheduled rest breaks, and that is often the practical reason a person with severe anemia cannot hold a job.

How Social Security evaluates anemia

The Social Security Administration (SSA) does recognize blood disorders as disabling conditions. They are addressed in the Listing of Impairments under Section 7.00, Hematological Disorders.

What surprises many claimants is that Section 7.00 no longer contains a listing for anemia by itself. Social Security revised these criteria in 2015 and removed the old chronic anemia listing, which had been based on hematocrit levels. Anemia still appears in Section 7.00, but in four specific places:

• Listing 7.05, hemolytic anemias. This covers sickle cell disease, thalassemia, and their variants. There are four ways to meet it: documented painful crises requiring intravenous or intramuscular narcotic medication at least six times in a year; three hospitalizations for complications within a year, at least 30 days apart and each lasting at least 48 hours; hemoglobin of 7.0 g/dL or less on at least three occasions within a year, at least 30 days apart; or beta thalassemia major requiring lifelong transfusions at least once every six weeks.
• Listing 7.10, disorders of bone marrow failure. This covers aplastic anemia and myelodysplastic syndromes that require lifelong red blood cell transfusions at least once every six weeks to maintain life.
• Listing 7.17, disorders treated by transplantation. If your condition has been treated by bone marrow or stem cell transplantation, Social Security considers you disabled for at least 12 consecutive months from the date of the transplant, and then evaluates whatever impairment remains.
• Listing 7.18, repeated complications of hematological disorders. This listing names anemia directly as an example of a complication. It requires significant, documented symptoms or signs such as severe fatigue, pain, malaise, fever, or shortness of breath, along with a marked limitation in daily activities, social functioning, or the ability to complete tasks in a timely way.

That third route under 7.05 is the closest thing Section 7.00 still has to the old chronic anemia listing, because it turns on a hemoglobin number rather than on crises or hospital admissions. It is a demanding threshold, but if your hemoglobin has repeatedly been at or below 7.0 g/dL it is worth checking whether those measurements are spaced far enough apart to satisfy it.

It also matters what is causing your anemia. Anemia arising from chronic kidney disease is generally evaluated under the genitourinary listings in Section 6.00, and anemia caused by a blood cancer such as leukemia or lymphoma is evaluated under the cancer listings in Section 13.00. Being clear with Social Security about the underlying cause helps make sure your claim is reviewed under the right criteria.

In my experience, good supportive medical evidence is what carries an anemia claim. That means the lab work establishing the diagnosis and its severity over time, records of transfusions or hospitalizations, and treatment notes describing what your symptoms actually stop you from doing.

If your anemia does not meet a listing

Most anemia claims are not decided by a listing, and that does not mean the claim is weak. When no listing is met or equaled, Social Security must assess your residual functional capacity, which is what you can still do despite your impairments. As with any claim, your condition also has to have lasted, or be expected to last, at least twelve months.

This is where the day-to-day effects of anemia decide the claim. If your fatigue means you would need unscheduled rest breaks, if you would miss more days than an employer would accept, or if your concentration, persistence, and pace are reduced enough that you could not keep up with even simple work, that can be enough to win the claim.

Your age, education, and work history matter at this stage too. A claimant of 50 or older with no transferable skills is in a considerably stronger position than a younger claimant with identical limitations, and at 55 the vocational rules shift again in the claimant’s favor. Since June 22, 2024, Social Security also looks only at work performed in the previous five years rather than fifteen.

It also helps to tell Social Security about every other condition you have. The agency is required to consider all of your impairments in combination. Anemia is frequently secondary to something else, such as kidney disease, an autoimmune condition, or cancer treatment, and the combined effect of those conditions is often stronger than anemia alone.

If you are denied, appeal rather than starting a new application. Appealing protects your original filing date and the back pay attached to it, and you generally have sixty days from the date on the notice.

Talk with an Indiana disability attorney about your anemia claim

If you are struggling with your Social Security disability claim and are frustrated by the claims process, contact my office for a free case evaluation. Call (866) 950-5116 today.