Can you get Social Security disability for Leukemia?

Are you suffering from chronic or acute leukemia and unable to work because of it? Leukemia is a type of cancer that is diagnosed in more than 60,000 people in the United States each year, according to the American Cancer Society. Leukemia occurs when blood cells in the bone marrow grow out of control.

Leukemia usually starts with some common symptoms such as:

• Prolonged bleeding
• Bruising
• Weakness and fatigue
• Weight loss
• Frequent infections
• Pain and swelling in your joints

The earlier leukemia is detected, the more likely it can be treated effectively. This cancer is highly dangerous, but it is also highly treatable, and survival has improved substantially over the last few decades. Some treatments may include:

• Chemotherapy
• Radiation therapy
• Other kinds of drug therapy, including targeted therapies
• Stem cell or bone marrow transplantation

Being diagnosed with leukemia can mean a major lifestyle change. Outcomes vary a great deal depending on the type of leukemia and when it is caught. Some types, particularly in children, are often cured outright. Others are managed long term with ongoing therapy rather than cured. Either way, treatment frequently leaves side effects that significantly reduce quality of life for those who live with the disease.

If you have been diagnosed with leukemia and are unable to work because of it, you may qualify for Social Security disability benefits.

How Social Security evaluates leukemia

The Social Security Administration’s Listing of Impairments outlines the criteria that qualify an individual with leukemia for disability benefits. Leukemia appears in Section 13.00, Malignant Neoplastic Diseases, at listing 13.06, and the listing is divided into two parts.

Listing 13.06A covers acute leukemia, including T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma. If you meet this part of the listing, Social Security considers you disabled until at least 24 months from the date of diagnosis or relapse, or at least 12 months from the date of a bone marrow or stem cell transplantation, whichever is later.

Listing 13.06B covers chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), in one of two ways. In an accelerated or blast phase, the same timeframes apply as for acute leukemia. In a chronic phase, there are two ways to qualify. If you have had a bone marrow or stem cell transplant, you are considered disabled for at least 12 months from the date of that transplant. Separately, the listing is also met where the disease progresses following initial anticancer therapy. A diagnosis of CML generally needs to be supported by documented granulocytosis and a chromosomal analysis demonstrating the Philadelphia chromosome.

There is an important detail in how these timeframes work that often catches people off guard. Meeting listing 13.06 does not mean benefits continue indefinitely. When the listing period ends, Social Security evaluates any residual impairments you still have under the criteria for whichever body system they affect. If the treatment has left you with lasting problems, such as neuropathy, cardiac damage, cognitive difficulties, or chronic fatigue, those become the basis for continuing your claim, and they need to be documented in your records well before that review arrives.

Acute leukemia and Compassionate Allowances

Acute leukemia also appears on Social Security’s Compassionate Allowances list. This is a program that flags conditions clearly severe enough to meet the agency’s disability standard so those claims can be identified and decided quickly rather than waiting in the normal queue.

There is no separate application to file. You apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) the usual way, and Social Security screens your claim against the list. Being precise about your diagnosis on the application, and getting the pathology and bone marrow results into the file early, is what helps that screening catch your claim. The standard for disability is not lowered, and no specific timeframe is promised, but these claims are prioritized.

If your leukemia is not covered by listing 13.06

Listing 13.06 does not name every form of the disease. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), which accounts for roughly one in three leukemia diagnoses in adults, is not specifically addressed there. Neither is a case where your transplant was more than a year ago and you are past the listing period.

That does not mean your claim fails. There are two paths. Your oncologist may be able to explain in a medical source statement why your condition is functionally equivalent to what the listing describes, which is how a claim medically equals a listing. Alternatively, and more commonly, Social Security assesses your residual functional capacity, meaning what you can still do despite your condition. As with any claim decided this way, your condition also has to have lasted, or be expected to last, at least twelve months.

This is where the day-to-day reality of living with leukemia and its treatment decides the claim. Fatigue that requires unscheduled rest, a compromised immune system that makes regular attendance at a workplace unsafe, neuropathy from chemotherapy, bleeding and bruising risk, and difficulty with concentration, persistence, and pace can each rule out full-time work on their own.

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.

The medical evidence your claim needs

In order to qualify for SSDI or SSI benefits, you should provide Social Security with medical proof of your condition supported by doctors’ exams, imaging, and blood tests. For leukemia claims, the records that matter most usually include:

• Initial and follow-up pathology reports
• Bone marrow examination results
• Peripheral blood counts over time
• Chromosomal analysis, where CML is at issue
• Transplant records, including the date of transplantation
• Treatment notes describing side effects and how you have responded

In addition, if this information includes statements from your physicians asserting that you are unable to work because of your leukemia, it may be beneficial in winning your claim.

Talk with an Indiana disability attorney about your leukemia claim

I know that dealing with a diagnosis of cancer is difficult enough, and that dealing with financial problems on top of it, because you cannot work, makes it considerably harder. If you are unable to work because of leukemia, it is worth applying.

If you decide to go through the disability application process, contact my office for a free case evaluation. As an Indianapolis disability attorney, I have handled these claims for years, and my staff and I can help you through each step of the claim and any appeal.