Mesothelioma is rare. Even so, it affects many families every year. In 2022, the CDC reported 2,669 diagnoses. About 75% of cases from 2003 through 2022 involved males. Most cases trace back to asbestos exposure, and the disease often surfaces decades later, much like other occupational illnesses.
With the rapid decrease in income and missed days from work, people diagnosed with mesothelioma usually face financial problems and struggle with stress. Fortunately, various benefits can provide some relief. This category includes government assistance programs and programs sponsored by employers. Some employers offer additional benefit programs, making things even more manageable. Those benefit programs have different regulations, timelines, and forms to complete, so it’s essential to know how the programs are integrated.
Where the Exposure Usually Happened
During the initial phases of asbestos lawsuits, claimants must outline their employment history, specifically the work duties they performed. This is because there were countless materials used in both residential construction and automotive trades that contained asbestos. Take asbestos ceiling tiles and gaskets for boilers and pipes, as well as brake linings, as an example. Many people developed mesothelioma from this constant exposure.
Different programs need different employment information, which might include employer, job, and start and end dates. They may even need information about previous jobs. Previous jobs provide useful details about the applicant, like whether they meet employment guidelines.
According to a mesothelioma lawyer, mesothelioma is a terminal diagnosis of cancer that is uncommon. With asbestos as its primary known cause, patients may be able to pursue legal action against the party responsible for the exposure.
Social Security Disability
An individual may receive Social Security disability benefits if they cannot work as a result of a medical condition. Benefits can be received only if the condition is expected to result in death or last at least one year. Eligibility depends on several criteria, including work credits. Every age category has a credit requirement.
With Social Security’s Compassionate Allowances, applicants who suffer from mesothelioma are given accelerated processing of their applications. The list includes several types of mesothelioma, such as pericardial, pleural, sarcomatoid, peritoneal, and desmoplastic types.
In the real world, social security disability claims are relatively fast but can take months or years before benefit checks actually start. Often benefits begin with the sixth full month after the onset of disability. Medicare benefits will not start until benefits have been received for 24 months. For many, other coverage, such as private disability insurance, Medicaid, or private health insurance, must help bridge the time between the onset of disability and the start of Social Security disability benefits.
Workers’ Compensation for Occupational Disease
State workers’ compensation systems cover more than sudden accidents. Several systems classify occupational diseases, including the cancer many workers get from asbestos exposure.
State law can differ in how it treats employees for an illness. Deadlines differ by state for diseases that develop long after employees leave their jobs.
Claims like these usually run through local practitioners who handle workers’ compensation in a particular state. In North Carolina, Maiden workers’ compensation lawyer Lyndon R. Helton represents injured workers in Catawba County and the surrounding area.
Workers’ compensation and Social Security can overlap. The SSA may reduce disability benefits when workers’ compensation payments also arrive, so the timing and structure of each award can affect the total a household receives.
Benefits for Veterans
Asbestos is used in many industries. It is used in building ships, buildings, equipment, and vehicles.
The military is another setting where asbestos was used. That is why many people with mesothelioma were also once in the military.
There are disability benefits offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs for people with military service who have been diagnosed with an illness related to asbestos exposure. The VA lists shipyard work, construction, demolition, and insulation among the settings where that contact occurred.
Veterans need documentation to claim asbestos-related benefits. Such documentation usually includes service records outlining duties, medical records and documentation, and a doctor’s diagnosis that links the exposure. Approved claims result in monthly, tax-free compensation.
Trust Funds and Civil Claims
Benefit programs replace part of lost income. Still, they do not always reach the companies that made or sold asbestos products.
As such, those companies set up a trust through bankruptcy to pay the current and future asbestos claims. A person with mesothelioma may file claims with several trusts, depending on which products appear in the work history.
Civil lawsuits against manufacturers and suppliers that remain in business form another path. These claims operate separately from Social Security and VA benefits, although workers’ compensation laws generally bar most civil claims against a person’s own employer.
Putting the Pieces Together
Many families must use several different programs. Social Security may provide a monthly base, workers’ compensation or VA benefits may add to it, and trust or civil claims may address losses the benefit programs never cover.
What unites these benefits is the paperwork needed to support claims for payments. Keeping an accurate and detailed log of diagnoses, job duties, products handled, and duration of service as employment duties are performed can relieve much of the burden on already stressed households.