Get Social Security Disability & SSI Benefits: Hepatitis

Winning Your Case

You must comply with two fundamental rules to obtain Social Security disability and SSI benefits with hepatitis:

1. The Non-Medical Criteria, and
2. The Disability Criteria.

Complying with the disability criteria requires –

1. You understand how Social Security analyzes hepatitis (this page),
2. You satisfy a Social Security Listing related to hepatitis (also this page) or you have disabling Functional Limitations (next page), and
3. You Submit Winning Evidence (last page).

Medical Evidence In A Hepatitis Social Security & SSI Disability Case

Social Security commonly decides hepatitis disability cases. Hepatitis is a viral infection. It spreads through infected blood. Hepatitis itself rarely causes severe symptoms. In fact, many people with hepatitis have asymptomatic hepatitis for years. However, hepatitis can eventually damage the liver, and when that happens, symptoms result. There are several hepatitis types:

1. Hepatitis A,
2. Hepatitis B,
3. Hepatitis C,
4. Hepatitis D,
5. Hepatitis E,
6. Alcoholic hepatitis, and
7. Autoimmune hepatitis.

In a Social Security disability case, evidence of your hepatitis diagnosis is required. The diagnosis of hepatitis B and C are the most common. Diagnoses of hepatitis A, B, and D are far less common as they are preventable with immunization. Hepatitis is primarily diagnosed by blood test and a liver biopsy. With a blood test, severity is determined by viral load. A viral load of 800,000 units is considered high – “800,000 IU/L.” “IU/L” means international units/liter, so “800,000 IU/L” is 800,000 units of virus in a liter of blood. With a liver biopsy, Social Security is concerned with liver dysfunction, the severity of which is classified in four stages – Liver Disease & Cirrhosis. Generally in a Social Security disability case, you will need a stage 3 or stage 4 level of liver cirrhosis to be found disabled.

It is common with hepatitis that one does not get ongoing medical treatment. However, when there is no treatment, there are no medical records. Without records documenting and explaining the diagnosis and treatment, Social Security cannot make a correct assessment of your hepatitis and whether you are disabled. Treatment for hepatitis is interferon injections and oral ribavirin. Treatment generally lasts 48 weeks unless the patient is unresponsive to treatment, and then it is ended earlier. Social Security can find you disabled during treatment as the treatment itself typically causes disabling symptoms – extreme fatigue, flu-like symptoms, and muscle aches.

Tip. In sum, generally, to be found disabled by Social Security, you will need three things: 1) a high viral load, 2) significant symptoms, and 3) either a recommendation by a doctor you need interferon treatment or treatment itself.

Hepatitis Social Security & SSI Listing

There is no listing for hepatitis. However, hepatitis, in severe cases, causes liver disease. The closest listing to hepatitis is the listing for Liver Disease & Cirrhosis: Adult Listing 5.05 and Child Listing 105.05.