How Heart Problems Can Qualify You for Social Security Disability

Living with heart disease is exhausting. Shortness of breath, chest pain, and constant fatigue can make simple tasks feel overwhelming. Worrying about your income and future on top of daily challenges can feel like too much. You are not alone in this.

Heart disease is more common and serious than many people realize. About one in five deaths in the U.S. are caused by heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Wondering what heart problem will qualify for disability? This article will help. It covers which heart conditions qualify, how the Social Security Administration (SSA) decides, what medical evidence matters, and how Advocate can help you with your disability claim.

You may qualify for disability benefits even if you have already been denied before.

What Is Heart Disease?

Heart disease is a broad term. It covers many problems with the heart and blood vessels. The SSA calls them “disorders of the cardiovascular system.”

The term cardiovascular disease is often used to describe coronary artery disease, the most common type of heart disease. This is when blood vessels become narrowed or blocked, often leading to heart attacks and other serious heart problems.

Cardiovascular disease includes many conditions, such as:

• Abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias)
• Infections of the heart
• Structural defects present from birth (congenital heart defects)

Common Types of Heart and Blood Vessel Problems SSA Sees

The SSA considers many types of heart and circulation problems, including:

• Coronary artery disease or ischemic heart disease: Narrowed arteries that limit blood flow
• Chronic heart failure: The heart cannot pump enough blood
• Cardiomyopathy: Disease that weakens the heart muscle
• Arrhythmias: Irregular or dangerous heartbeats
• Congenital heart defects: Heart structure problems present at birth
• Heart valve problems: Valves do not open or close as they should
• Peripheral arterial disease (PAD): Poor blood flow in the legs and arms

All of these conditions can be serious enough to affect your ability to work.  Having a heart condition doesn’t guarantee disability benefits, though. The SSA weighs how severe your condition is and how it limits your daily activities and work. What matters most is how your symptoms affect your life, not just the name of your diagnosis.

Symptoms of Heart Disease

Heart disease symptoms can show up suddenly or build slowly over time. You may not realize symptoms are signaling a heart concern at first. Documenting these symptoms is key if you want to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and/or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

Common heart symptoms include:

• Chest pain or pressure
• Dizziness or fainting
• Shortness of breath
• Waking up at night short of breath
• Ongoing fatigue and very low energy
• Pain, tingling, or numbness in the arms or legs
• Rapid or irregular heartbeat, also called palpitations
• Swelling in the feet, ankles, or lower legs from fluid buildup

How Symptoms Can Affect Your Ability to Work

Symptoms from heart conditions can limit your ability to stand, walk, or lift things. They can also affect your focus, concentration, and stamina. You may miss work because symptoms flare without warning.

The SSA pays close attention to how often you have symptoms and how long they last. Since mild symptoms happening often can make full-time work unsafe or unrealistic, it’s important to document them all.

What to Track for Your Disability Claim

Tracking  your symptoms can help show how your condition affects your ability to work. Keep a record of:

• When symptoms happen (time of day and what you were doing)
• How long your symptoms last
• What makes them better or worse
• How they affect tasks like cooking, cleaning, standing, walking, or climbing stairs

These details help show the SSA the limits your heart condition creates.

Heart Diseases Listed in the SSA Blue Book

The SSA Blue Book is a list of medical conditions that examiners reference in disability applications. It lists conditions the SSA considers severe enough to prevent full-time work.

Section 4.00 of the Blue Book covers the main qualifying heart conditions SSA reviews in disability decisions. If your condition meets or closely matches one of these listings, you may be approved for benefits faster.

SSA’s main heart conditions are:

• Chronic heart failure
• Ischemic heart disease
• Recurrent arrhythmias
• Symptomatic congenital heart disease
• Heart transplant history
• Aneurysm of the aorta or major branches
• Chronic venous insufficiency
• Peripheral arterial disease

How SSA Uses the Blue Book for Heart and Cardiovascular Conditions

The SSA needs more than a medical diagnosis. Each cardiovascular listing has detailed medical criteria for qualification, such as test results, imaging, or hospital records. SSA reviews medical evidence, like tests and doctor’s notes, along with your work and activity limitations. If you don’t meet a Blue Book listing exactly, examiners look at your overall ability to work. While meeting a listing can speed up an approval, not meeting one doesn’t end your case. 

What If Your Heart Condition Doesn’t Meet a Blue Book Listing?

When a heart condition doesn’t match a listing, medical evidence and statements are used to create a Residual Functional Capacity (RFC) assessment. It evaluates what you can still do despite your condition. What’s the most you can do in a typical work day? Do your symptoms affect basic activities like walking, standing, lifting, or focusing? Even with your limitations, could you switch to other types of work?

Example RFC statements:

• A 52-year-old warehouse worker with heart failure cannot lift over 10 pounds and gets shortness of breath after walking a short distance.
• A 58-year-old office worker with arrhythmias and dizziness can’t sit for over two hours and misses many days due to hospital visits.

You can get disability benefits if a heart condition keeps you from working even if it’s not in the Blue Book.

Treatments for Heart Disease

You can be receiving treatment for heart disease and still qualify for disability benefits. The SSA wants to know the treatments you’ve tried and the results. Many people make lifestyle adjustments and take medicine and still struggle with serious heart disease symptoms.

Treatments for heart disease vary depending on how severe the condition is.

Your treatments may include:

• Lifestyle changes like diet, gentle exercise, and stress control
• Medications for blood pressure, heart rate, rhythm, and fluid
• Blood thinners to lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes
• Surgery or procedures such as stents, bypass surgery, and valve repair

How Treatment Affects Your Disability Claim

The SSA expects people to try reasonable treatment unless there is a valid reason not to like cost, side effects, or lack of access. You won’t be penalized for stopping a treatment if it made your symptoms worse or was unsafe for you.

If you’ve had a heart procedure or surgery, such as stents or bypass, the SSA considers how long your recovery takes, if symptoms continue or improve, and if you have complications that limit your activity.

Typically, a person is considered disabled for a year after a heart transplant but they still need to apply for disability. After that the SSA evaluates how your new heart is functioning and if you can return to work.

Treatment Details that Matter to SSA

Your treatment history needs to be clear, detailed, and consistent. This helps the SSA understand what you have tried and how your heart condition still affects your daily life.

Include these in your application or share with your advocate:

• All medications you take and any side effects
• Emergency room visits or hospital stays related to your heart
• Any cardiac rehab or physical therapy and how your body handled it
• Times when you had to stop or change treatment and the reason why

Qualifying for Disability Benefits with Heart Problems

The specific medical rules for each heart condition in the Blue Book can be confusing. Trying to figure out if you match one may feel complicated. If you do not meet a listing exactly, that’s okay. Remember that many people with cardiovascular problems qualify for SSDI or SSI only after the SSA sees their full work history, symptoms, and limits.

Advocate combines smart technology expert help to gather records, track deadlines, and explain each step without burying you in paperwork.

How SSA Decides If Your Heart Condition Is “Disabling”

The SSA follows the same five-step process for every disability claim. Here is how it works:

1. Are you working and earning over a set limit? This is called Substantial Gainful Activity, or SGA.
2. Is your heart condition severe? It must seriously limit basic work tasks and be expected to last at least 12 months or result in death.
3. Does your condition meet or equal a Blue Book heart or cardiovascular listing?
4. Can you still do any of your past jobs?
5. If not, can you do any other work based on your age, education, and work history?

Many people qualify for disability in the last two steps because they can’t do their previous jobs or switch work.

Evidence SSA Looks for in Heart-Related Disability Claims

Strong medical evidence is crucial in claims for qualifying heart conditions.

Evidence includes:

• Medical records like cardiology notes, hospital stays, emergency room visits, imaging like echocardiograms, stress tests, heart catheterizations, and EKG or Holter monitor reports
• Test results like ejection fraction, exercise capacity, stress test findings, Doppler or ABI results for peripheral arterial disease
• Treatment history on medications, surgeries, stents, pacemaker or defibrillator implants, and cardiac rehab
• Doctor notes about low stamina, frequent rest, leg elevation, dizziness, or fainting
• Your statements of how symptoms limit daily tasks and work

When you work with Advocate, we make sure to collect the right information and present it clearly to the SSA.

Other Health Issues That Can Affect Your Heart Disability Claim

The SSA looks at the combined effect of all your medical issues, so it’s important to list everything when you apply, not just the heart condition. Having multiple conditions often makes limits much more severe. If you have depression, anxiety, or sleep problems related to the heart condition, that matters too.

How Advocate Helps With Heart-Related Disability Claims

Applying for disability can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re struggling with poor health. Advocate can reduce that burden and guide you through the process. Our disability experts and smart tools can:

• See if you qualify for SSDI, SSI, or both
• Help you list your heart-related symptoms and other health conditions
• Request and organize cardiology records, test results, and hospital notes
• Complete your forms and statements in the format SSA expects
• Communicate with the SSA and keep you updated on your claim