Medicaid Support Group

I'm a 30 year old guy from West Chester, PA. I was in a massive car accident on 12/28/2008, and was hospitalized for two weeks in a trauma unit at Crozer-Chester Hospital. I broke nearly a dozen bones, sustained a concussion, and had surgery on my left hand. I'm still recovering, but doing much better, and I plan to be 100% by June.

I have a new and struggling catering company that I started in 2008, but because of the economy and other factors it didn't bring in any income. I bit the bullet and took a retail job at Staples in early December for just $7.50 an hour. Over the few weeks I worked there before my accident, I made about $500 total. My last paycheck, for the week just before the accident, was deposited into my bank account on January 2nd (while I was heavily medicated and in traction). It was only $298.70.

I've waited patiently for three months, filling out forms, faxing statements, and so forth, to receive my medical assistance card. I signed up for benefits while I was in the hospital, because I have no savings, no assets, and a three-week old retail job that barely paid enough for food. And, thanks to the accident, I was now temporarily-disabled until June 30th. With my other debt (student loans, some minor credit card debt), there was no way I could afford the treatment I needed to patch me back together. Medicaid was going to save my life. I thought.

I received my card in the mail the other day, and dutifully called all my doctors and the hospital, who have also been patient in waiting for me to receive my card, and gave them the numbers.

"STATUS: INACTIVE," they told me.

I called my case manager at Medicaid, a gruff, emotionless, and cryptically-named "Mr. Green." I was dismissively told that since I received my last paycheck two days into 2009, and it totaled a staggering $298.70, or $48.70 over the eligibility limit, I was ineligible for benefits for the month of January.

90% of my bills are from my hospital stay, which was entirely in January. Is this for real? The wage cutoff for me to get help to pay these massive bills is $250 per month? On what planet does this make sense?

I'm an industrious, hard-working man. A self-starter. I don't like being out of work, sitting at home doing nothing any more than they like to keep shelling out money. I in no way want to "milk the system." In fact, I've been trying to get back on my feet as soon as possible, even paying out of pocket (through money graciously donated from friends and family) for alternative treatments like acupuncture to help me get on my feet faster. And it's worked--I'm set to go back to work in two weeks, and I couldn't be happier about it.

But it still boils my blood to have been told that my government would help me out when I needed it most, when I was in the pits in a trauma ward and had no other hope, and then to be told now that this net never existed for me in the first place.

All on account of forty-eight dollars and seventy cents.
Posted on 04/21/09, 05:04 pm