"Holding My Breath!"

by Liz Thompson, aka WriteOP



I had been holding my breath since February. That month I applied for Social Security Disability benefits, due to worsening multiple sclerosis.


Yesterday, I gasped for air. Word came I had been approved. The government agrees I am sufficiently disabled to not work.


If you ever waited for medical test results or a check in the mail, such as your tax refund, you know what I mean by holding my breath. Waiting can be life altering.


I am here to report something is wrong.


It is no surprise the Social Security system needs repair. Until it hits home, we may not understand the enormity of the dilemma. My home and life has been hit hard, but not as brutally as many others.


After following the paperwork procedures and interview with an Arizona social security representative I will call Susan, I began to hold my breath. Susan was able to tell me how much my monthly check would be, but she could not tell me if and when approval would arrive.


"Approval usually takes three to six months," she said. Later I learned that is only word of approval – or rejection. The actual benefits do not begin before six months from the date I quit working. I will have no personal income for six months.


I learned again what pinching pennies means and to be grateful for having pennies. Although my husband is employed, debts weigh us down like many others.


Similar to other times in my life, I was finding out the hard way what it means to be unemployed, documenting my disability, and waiting to see if the government process agreed.


I decided to be proactive. In late April, I checked on the process. The papers had been sent to the Disability Determination office in Phoenix the first of March.


I resolved to go to the source, and as high up as possible.


After praying fervently, I researched the Internet finding Arizona Senator John Kyl’s Web site.


Naively, I emailed his office asking for assistance in expediting my file and faxed documentation about my case.


Meanwhile, I called the local determination office and, Janelle said they had received my data and were compiling the information for review by a physician.


The office manager, Linda, told me they review more than 200,000 disability claims every year. That equates to more than 16,000 cases reviewed each month. Having worked in offices for more than 25 years, I knew this is one bunch of paperwork.


Feeling confident my case was moving, albeit slowly, about 10:00 a.m. that same day I received a call from Sen. Kyl’s office. His social security assistant explained the process. She told me of the mandatory six-month waiting period before any payments are made and said even if I sped the paperwork along, the mandatory wait would stay intact. Even though I was to be approved before the six months, there is no option but to wait for financial assistance.


How do people survive who have no second income, savings, family, or some other way to persevere until the checks begin? Thinking it was possible I might be rejected, I asked. She hoped people had savings, retirement plans, insurance, and so forth. And what if they don’t? She did not know. "But anything with government is slow," she said. "I agree the situation is sad and reform is in the works. But disability assistance is considered a supplementary income, not primary," she added.


I called Susan and asked her. "Most people lose everything." Homeless? Bankrupt? "Some," she said.
 

" Some people have family they live with or borrow money. But when they have no plan . . . well, it is not good," Susan said. This could easily affect more than 200,000 Arizonans alone and I did not like the answers I was getting.
 

What if I was single? It would be my only income.


My eyes were opened to how easy it is for me to float along and not realize the desperate matters at hand in our country. When something hits you where you live, then it becomes reality.


Every person I dealt with, Susan at local and people at national Social Security, Janelle and Linda at the Arizona determination office, and Sen. Kyl’s office were pleasant, patient, and efficient. I have no complaints and they seemed to hear I was becoming breathless. Janelle shouted "fantastic" when I called to ask a question after approval. "After it leaves our office, we never know," Janelle said. People like her made the process bearable.


The people who can work, but don’t want to and go to extreme measures to "beat the system," are the folks who have made those in need have to wait.
 

Too much reality for TV shows.

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