20 C.F.R. §§ 416.931–416.934

If you are applying for supplemental security income benefits on the basis of disability or blindness, we may pay you benefits before we make a formal finding of whether or not you are disabled or blind. In order to receive these payments, we must find that you are presumptively disabled or presumptively blind. You must also meet all other eligibility requirements for supplemental security income benefits. We may make these payments to you for a period not longer than 6 months. These payments will not be considered overpayments if we later find that you are not disabled or blind.

We may make payments to you on the basis of presumptive disability or presumptive blindness before we make a formal determination about your disability or blindness. The payments can not be made for more than 6 months. They start for a period of not more than 6 months beginning in the month we make the presumptive disability or presumptive blindness finding. The payments end the earliest of—

We may make a finding of presumptive disability or presumptive blindness if the evidence available at the time we make the presumptive disability or presumptive blindness finding reflects a high degree of probability that you are disabled or blind. In the case of readily observable impairments (e.g., total blindness), we will find that you are disabled or blind for purposes of this section without medical or other evidence. For other impairments, a finding of disability or blindness must be based on medical evidence or other information that, though not sufficient for a formal determination of disability or blindness, is sufficient for us to find that there is a high degree of probability that you are disabled or blind. For example, for claims involving the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the Social Security Field Office may make a finding of presumptive disability if your medical source provides us with information that confirms that your disease manifestations meet the severity of listing-level criteria for HIV. Of course, regardless of the specific HIV manifestations, the State agency may make a finding of presumptive disability if the medical evidence or other information reflects a high degree of probability that you are disabled.

We may make findings of presumptive disability and presumptive blindness in specific impairment categories without obtaining any medical evidence. These specific impairment categories are—