Is Asthma Considered a Disability by the SSA?

Those who struggle with asthma know that it can be a very difficult condition to live with at times, particularly depending on its severity. If you have this condition, you probably struggle to live your daily life normally at times. If you struggle with severe asthma, you may also find that it significantly impacts your daily routine and your ability to perform tasks that you usually do. If you find yourself in this situation, you may wonder if asthma qualifies as a disability for which you could receive disability benefits. Let’s take a closer look at the law together.

What Types of Benefits Are Available?

The Social Security Administration offers two types of disability benefits for qualifying applicants. Those benefits include:

• Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI): SSDI benefits are provided by the Social Security Administration to individuals who are disabled and have sufficient work history to be considered “insured.” Being “insured” may sound like you’re required to have a specific type of insurance policy – but this is not the case. To the Social Security Administration, being “insured” means that you worked at a job for a sufficient length of time, and during that time, you paid employment taxes into the Social Security System. The maximum SSDI payment that an individual can receive each month in 2025 is $4,018.
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI): Unlike SSDI benefits, to receive SSI benefits, an individual does not need to be “insured” to qualify. Instead, to qualify for these benefits, the applicant must have income and resources below a specific limit established by the Social Security Administration. This limit often changes annually based on a variety of economic factors. In 2025, the maximum amount of SSI benefits that an individual can receive is $967 per individual or $1,450 per couple.

Regardless of which type of benefit you apply for, you must also satisfy two other conditions. You must have a qualifying medical condition, and that condition must have rendered you unable to work for a period of at least one continuous calendar year or more. Understandably, this leads to the question – is asthma a qualifying medical condition?

Is Asthma a Qualifying Medical Condition?

To determine whether a particular medical condition qualifies as a disability for the purpose of awarding benefits, the Social Security Administration often consults its listing of impairments, commonly known as the Blue Book. The Blue Book is a guide that lists various conditions that may qualify for disability benefits, along with their accompanying symptoms. If an applicant has a condition not specifically listed in the Blue Book, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they wouldn’t qualify for benefits. It does, however, mean that additional medical evidence may be required.

Fortunately, for those suffering from asthma, it is a condition recognized in the Blue Book. As those with asthma likely already know, it is a chronic respiratory condition that can last for years or for an entire life. Asthma is characterized by airway inflammation, difficulty breathing, and increased mucous production. Millions of Americans suffer from asthma, although the condition can vary in its severity.

Typically, the Social Security Administration will consider asthma as “disabling” if it triggers attacks that last more than one day, occurring at least six times a year, which require intensive treatment and follow-up medical care. As noted, the condition must also render the applicant disabled and unable to work for a period of at least one continuous calendar year or more. If you have asthma that has rendered you disabled for a shorter amount of time, you may be able to seek disability benefits through other means, such as a short-term disability policy, but you will not be able to pursue disability benefits from the Social Security Administration.

If you find yourself feeling slightly confused by all of this information, that’s okay. The truth is that the law can be complicated, especially if you’ve never been through a particular legal process before. The good news is that help is available. At Disability Experts, we’re here for you.

Disability Experts – Here For You

Struggling with a difficult and disabling condition can be overwhelming. The last thing you need when you find yourself in this situation is to worry and wonder whether you’re doing all you can to pursue the disability benefits you need and deserve. The good news is you don’t have to worry and wonder alone. Instead, you can turn to the knowledgeable and experienced attorneys at Disability Experts. When you do, you can trust that you’ve found a legal team that knows and understands every aspect of the law pertaining to disability benefits. We’ll always pursue the best legal strategies on your behalf, and we’re ready to get started today. If you are too, give us a call. We look forward to helping you soon.