Claimants who meet the financial eligibility qualifications for disability benefits under the Supplemental Security Income (“SSI”) program may be entitled to receive  up to 6 months of SSI payments while their initial disability claim is being processed.  These payments, called “Presumptive Disability Payments,” are available for claimants who have one or more of the following medical conditions:

• Amputation of a leg at the hip;
• Total deafness or Blindness;
• Immobility/bed confinement without a wheelchair, walker, or crutches due to a longstanding condition (not a recent accident or surgery);
• Cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, or muscular atrophy with marked difficulty in speaking, coordination of the hands or arms, or walking (e.g., need for braces to walk);
• Down Syndrome;
• Severe mental deficiency in claimants who are age 7 or older;
• HIV infection
• Stroke more than 3 months in the past with continued, marked difficulty in walking or using a hand or arm;
• Infants who weighed less than 1200 grams at birth, or less than 2000 grams at birth but “small for gestational age”
• Inability to walk without a walker or bilateral hand-held assistive devices for more than 2 weeks following a spinal cord injury
• Terminal illness with a life expectancy of 6 months or less OR receipt of hospice services for a terminal illness
• End stage renal disease with ongoing dialysis
• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease)