First off let me say I have SSI now. I cant get the full disability and the medicare to go with it because of the rules. I worked for years and put in to all the funds. But was out of work for a while and raised kids then went to work part time with a non profit. Really never should work for a non profit you cant even get unemployment...Anyway the rules say you get judged on disablity SSI based on how much you worked in the 10 years before you became disabled. BUT....here is the odd rule...you have to be unable to work for at least 1 year and prove it before approval. Approval can take many years. Average is about 2-5 years.
Went to the office and applied. Was sent to their own doctor.....a doctor I had previous dealings with when he was supposed to my primary care doctor. I went to him with a lump under my tongue years ago....and a sore throat....suspected strep throat needed a culture to prove it.....have had it a lot of times so I knew. He did the culture since I demanded it but told me all of my problems were due to being fat. The culture came back.....strep throat....he wanted me on a diet instead of meds. I started seeing another doc.....well I got sent to him for his judgement.....he has no neuro back ground....his office is very run down and dusty dirty....the tile on his floor is cracked and peeling.....hard to get around his narrow halls since I was already using a rolerator (wheeled and seated walker) by that time.
Got denied.
Resent all my data. Was told I needed copies of all my medical records for the last 5 years sent in. Told them all of my doctors charge for that some $10 per page but you have to pay a $40 fee to start and a $35 fee for them to fill out any forms including the forms to request their own office to send copies. For a single page that is $75....and 5 years worth....I couldnt afford anything. So they said they could order most of it......and a huge 20 page application later and another year of waiting and sent back to their doctor.....the same one they sent me to before.....I was denied....The official form said there was a job in my state I could perform.....Watch repair. (yep it was actually listed on the form)
Reapplied. Phone calls and paper work court ordered and payed for by the courts when I told them the situation...Finally got summons to appear in court. Got smart. Went without any meds for 3 days before the court case so I was full blown. Hands in fists. Twitching like I was a tweeker on drugs. (Ironic huh?) Spastic and jerking like a maniac....drooling on myself since I have trouble swallowing.....the whole thing.
Judge saw me and wanted paperwork....they had sent me a CD with discovery....another words all of the data they gathered as the law stipulates must be done. I printed most of it out and had copies of everything I could get in a 4 inch binder over flowing...and put tabs in it. He ask for something I couldnt get to it since my hands didnt work. I asked permission for my mother to get it out of my binder for me. He allowed it. Finally he asked for my rejection letter. I gave it to him. He read it. Looked confused. He asked his aide are there jobs you think she can do in the area based on the category of disability she has. She looked at the form at the assigned level they gave me and looked.
She said they have listed watch repair. She looked on the computer and said there is 1 place hiring....it was a fancy jewelry store. I looked at the judge held up my hand after I used the tissue wedged in it to wipe my mouth....and said REALLY? They want me to be able to use a jewelers screw driver when I cant even hold a pencil? He started to laugh. He said have they actually seen you in person. I said well about 18 months to 2 years ago when I first applied. I wasnt as sick then and used a cane but my hands were affected though I wasnt drooling or twitching as much. He said NO I mean since that day.
I said No sir. I told him about the doctor. He asked when my last MRI was. I said I had one about 5 years ago when I was suffering with migraines. He asked if there were more I said no. He said he needed 2 more doctors reports or he could have approved me then. They hadnt sent in the papers as they were supposed to do. I explained about their fees and how that was the hold out. He said he could handle that. He said he was going to tell me straight. He said I would have gotten approval from him right then but couldnt for the hold out doctors even though they had nothing to do with what i was there for. He wasnt supposed to tell me but he was going to approve me pending those files. He would also supoena those files himself.
Several months later and at least a hundred phone calls to doctors and his staff (I did this without legal aide)....I was approved!!! Took several more months before they called me to ask about my finances and rent I paid. I know you arent supposed to accrue debt you have no way of paying with welfare here so when they asked if I had to pay back rent I said no (Even though I did) They said then they wouldnt give me the extra back pay for those months for that which would reduce my initial income. (By about 2 thousand dollars) I was to get a initial payment of 2,500 then another of 2,500 six months later and then another six months I would get the remainder of the full amount of about 12,000. They are allowed a year to make the full back payments.
So now I get around $700. I am still on welfare. But welfare says you make more than $280 a month you cant get medicaid for poor people...but I am disabled so I get federal medicaid ....which pays for a lot less. I went from unlimited doctors visits as someone just considered broke and not broken to 12 visits a year. I have to get approval for more than that. I went from medicaid paying for my leg braces to they would rather pay for more meds and no braces for my spine that would ease the pressure and lower my meds. (1 med costs over $400 a month and I am on a lot of them) The brace is about 1200. Not smart and Not cost effective.
It is like the government believes if you are poor then eventually you can get a job and be fine so they will pay anything to keep you healthy and happy (which means insurance is so expensive and you get so many benes why get a job) to you need help and are disabled there fore you are a throw away and of no use to the government they will only pay to keep you alive and that is it. (cant get medicare until I am 50 since I didnt work enough in the last 10 years before I became disabled)
Oh here is another funny. I cant ever get married. I am a single disabled mother of 2 special needs kids. (1 is high functioning autistic and the other is ADHD with developmental delays and neurologic disorder they are still trying to diagnose). I bring in $710 a month. Rent is $300. I pay around $200 for transportation. Now if I meet someone.....rare with this disorder but it could happen......If I were to marry then his income would be used to judge my benes. If as a married couple I made over $1500 a month combined income then they would take away my income (they call it reducing but it would be reduced to $0) I would lose medicaid....the kids would lose poor person medicaid....I would lose welfare (food stamps).....so this mythical man who took us on would then have to be responsible for insuring or paying bills for both kids care (very very expensive meds and specialists) my medical care which we all know is out rageous.....have to physically help take care of me and the kids....(oops back to government interferance) .....and pay for my life aides (wheel chairs and what not)....as well as work.
Seriously what man can afford all of that. With my income ok it isnt much but insurance and food stamps help some.....at least then I am a contributor but the government says that isnt my money his money becomes my money so I become nothing but a burden to who ever wants me. He would have to be independantly wealthy or we could just live together without benefit of marriage. That is the way the law reads. Which is against my faith and religous beliefs. Sad when the govt gets so into peoples lives they force them to live in sin just to be able to live.
OK this wasnt exactly a question post. More of laughing at the idiocy in goverment. I would love to hear more stories from others. Goofy dealings with the government. Silly things that happen with being sick. Sometimes you have to see the humor even though being sick isnt funny. It is mostly a case of laugh or cry and right now I prefer to laugh.....but lets face it with MS that is liable to change at a moments notice....LMBO
Went to the office and applied. Was sent to their own doctor.....a doctor I had previous dealings with when he was supposed to my primary care doctor. I went to him with a lump under my tongue years ago....and a sore throat....suspected strep throat needed a culture to prove it.....have had it a lot of times so I knew. He did the culture since I demanded it but told me all of my problems were due to being fat. The culture came back.....strep throat....he wanted me on a diet instead of meds. I started seeing another doc.....well I got sent to him for his judgement.....he has no neuro back ground....his office is very run down and dusty dirty....the tile on his floor is cracked and peeling.....hard to get around his narrow halls since I was already using a rolerator (wheeled and seated walker) by that time.
Got denied.
Resent all my data. Was told I needed copies of all my medical records for the last 5 years sent in. Told them all of my doctors charge for that some $10 per page but you have to pay a $40 fee to start and a $35 fee for them to fill out any forms including the forms to request their own office to send copies. For a single page that is $75....and 5 years worth....I couldnt afford anything. So they said they could order most of it......and a huge 20 page application later and another year of waiting and sent back to their doctor.....the same one they sent me to before.....I was denied....The official form said there was a job in my state I could perform.....Watch repair. (yep it was actually listed on the form)
Reapplied. Phone calls and paper work court ordered and payed for by the courts when I told them the situation...Finally got summons to appear in court. Got smart. Went without any meds for 3 days before the court case so I was full blown. Hands in fists. Twitching like I was a tweeker on drugs. (Ironic huh?) Spastic and jerking like a maniac....drooling on myself since I have trouble swallowing.....the whole thing.
Judge saw me and wanted paperwork....they had sent me a CD with discovery....another words all of the data they gathered as the law stipulates must be done. I printed most of it out and had copies of everything I could get in a 4 inch binder over flowing...and put tabs in it. He ask for something I couldnt get to it since my hands didnt work. I asked permission for my mother to get it out of my binder for me. He allowed it. Finally he asked for my rejection letter. I gave it to him. He read it. Looked confused. He asked his aide are there jobs you think she can do in the area based on the category of disability she has. She looked at the form at the assigned level they gave me and looked.
She said they have listed watch repair. She looked on the computer and said there is 1 place hiring....it was a fancy jewelry store. I looked at the judge held up my hand after I used the tissue wedged in it to wipe my mouth....and said REALLY? They want me to be able to use a jewelers screw driver when I cant even hold a pencil? He started to laugh. He said have they actually seen you in person. I said well about 18 months to 2 years ago when I first applied. I wasnt as sick then and used a cane but my hands were affected though I wasnt drooling or twitching as much. He said NO I mean since that day.
I said No sir. I told him about the doctor. He asked when my last MRI was. I said I had one about 5 years ago when I was suffering with migraines. He asked if there were more I said no. He said he needed 2 more doctors reports or he could have approved me then. They hadnt sent in the papers as they were supposed to do. I explained about their fees and how that was the hold out. He said he could handle that. He said he was going to tell me straight. He said I would have gotten approval from him right then but couldnt for the hold out doctors even though they had nothing to do with what i was there for. He wasnt supposed to tell me but he was going to approve me pending those files. He would also supoena those files himself.
Several months later and at least a hundred phone calls to doctors and his staff (I did this without legal aide)....I was approved!!! Took several more months before they called me to ask about my finances and rent I paid. I know you arent supposed to accrue debt you have no way of paying with welfare here so when they asked if I had to pay back rent I said no (Even though I did) They said then they wouldnt give me the extra back pay for those months for that which would reduce my initial income. (By about 2 thousand dollars) I was to get a initial payment of 2,500 then another of 2,500 six months later and then another six months I would get the remainder of the full amount of about 12,000. They are allowed a year to make the full back payments.
So now I get around $700. I am still on welfare. But welfare says you make more than $280 a month you cant get medicaid for poor people...but I am disabled so I get federal medicaid ....which pays for a lot less. I went from unlimited doctors visits as someone just considered broke and not broken to 12 visits a year. I have to get approval for more than that. I went from medicaid paying for my leg braces to they would rather pay for more meds and no braces for my spine that would ease the pressure and lower my meds. (1 med costs over $400 a month and I am on a lot of them) The brace is about 1200. Not smart and Not cost effective.
It is like the government believes if you are poor then eventually you can get a job and be fine so they will pay anything to keep you healthy and happy (which means insurance is so expensive and you get so many benes why get a job) to you need help and are disabled there fore you are a throw away and of no use to the government they will only pay to keep you alive and that is it. (cant get medicare until I am 50 since I didnt work enough in the last 10 years before I became disabled)
Oh here is another funny. I cant ever get married. I am a single disabled mother of 2 special needs kids. (1 is high functioning autistic and the other is ADHD with developmental delays and neurologic disorder they are still trying to diagnose). I bring in $710 a month. Rent is $300. I pay around $200 for transportation. Now if I meet someone.....rare with this disorder but it could happen......If I were to marry then his income would be used to judge my benes. If as a married couple I made over $1500 a month combined income then they would take away my income (they call it reducing but it would be reduced to $0) I would lose medicaid....the kids would lose poor person medicaid....I would lose welfare (food stamps).....so this mythical man who took us on would then have to be responsible for insuring or paying bills for both kids care (very very expensive meds and specialists) my medical care which we all know is out rageous.....have to physically help take care of me and the kids....(oops back to government interferance) .....and pay for my life aides (wheel chairs and what not)....as well as work.
Seriously what man can afford all of that. With my income ok it isnt much but insurance and food stamps help some.....at least then I am a contributor but the government says that isnt my money his money becomes my money so I become nothing but a burden to who ever wants me. He would have to be independantly wealthy or we could just live together without benefit of marriage. That is the way the law reads. Which is against my faith and religous beliefs. Sad when the govt gets so into peoples lives they force them to live in sin just to be able to live.
OK this wasnt exactly a question post. More of laughing at the idiocy in goverment. I would love to hear more stories from others. Goofy dealings with the government. Silly things that happen with being sick. Sometimes you have to see the humor even though being sick isnt funny. It is mostly a case of laugh or cry and right now I prefer to laugh.....but lets face it with MS that is liable to change at a moments notice....LMBO
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