Bad News
Sunday, July 11, 2010 - 2:10 PM
My life has not been going very well recently. During the past week, it seems to have taken somewhat of a drastic turn for the worse. I have become extremely depressed, and some of those old feelings of not wanting to go on living have returned to haunt me again.
Almost all of the news I have to report is bad. Some is worse than others, so, with that in mind, let me begin with the worst of all. Last week I learned that I am no longer eligible for Medicaid services. This is supposedly the result of my not having filled out and sent in what is called a Recertification/Redetermination Packet on time. That is partially true, and partially not true.
On June 23, I received a letter from someone with the county Medicaid office saying that I needed to fill out and complete a packet of information about myself. This is a yearly occurrence, so there is not much new from one year to another. But, the letter I received certainly was different. The date that it was written was on June 19. Within that letter it stated that I was supposed to return the packet of information to their office no later than June 13. That was six days earlier than the letter was written to begin with.
After getting that letter, I tried calling the person in the Medicaid office, but only got her voicemail, which promised to return my phone call within 2 to 3 days. I left my name, number, and a brief message explaining the situation and asking for a 10 day to two-week time extension, but my phone call was never returned.
The next thing I knew, I received a letter stating that I was no longer eligible to receive services from my various providers, which includes, but is not limited to, my home healthcare, doctors appointments, physical therapy appointments, my psychologist and mental health appointments, as well as my transportation to and from all of them.
By the time I read that letter last Tuesday, I was a nervous wreck. I did not know what to do. Later that afternoon, I happened to be talking with someone from my home healthcare agency about something else when I decided to mention what had been occurring with the Medicaid office. A staffing coordinator at the home healthcare agency said she had been made aware of my situation, but that they had decided to continue providing my healthcare for me on an indefinite basis. She said that she hoped the situation would be resolved within the next 2 to 3 weeks. I am not so sure about that.
I told her that with one exception I had all of the information that the Medicaid office wanted. The exception was proof of income from Social Security. I said that I contacted the Social Security office, and had a document stating that I was to receive the proof of income by Thursday, July 8. She suggested that I take the papers I already had and go to the local Medicaid office the next day, which is what I did.
That is one trip I would like to forget forever. I had wanted to be there by 11 AM. My transportation picked me up 45 minutes late. By the time I got to the Medicaid office, I knew that the ride to take me home would be there within 15 minutes, which was not enough time for me to see anyone. Fortunately, when the driver came to pick me up, he said he used to be a social worker in New Mexico, and he knew how important this was for me, so he would return and pick me up in another hour. That was good news.
The office had three windows at which their technicians could talk with those of us who have problems. I thought I heard them call my name, so I rolled up to window number one, and the woman there snapped at me to get away. So much for nice starts.
A few minutes later, she called me over to that window and asked me what I had wanted. I said I thought that she called my name. As it turned out, she was looking for someone with a different last name. When she learned I was not that person, she raised her voice and told me to go back to my corner. I was not very happy with her by then.
There were 11 people waiting to be seen ahead of me. As each minute ticked by, I became more and more afraid that I would not have a ride home. At one point, one of the other people there went to the window and asked this woman if he could trade places with me since I was fighting a transportation deadline. She told him that they did not make exceptions for anyone including me.
Window number two finally opened and another woman appeared. I was fortunate enough to be called to that window. As I was rolling toward it, that woman apparently did not see me and began calling out another number. Almost to a person, the other 15 to 20 people waiting to be seen called out, "He's coming!" When I got to the woman's window there were two chairs blocking my path. Two or three people got up and moved them for me.
I had more than a dozen papers with me. I was tightly holding them clasped to my chest with my arms. I was so nervous by then that I was unable to loosen up my arms enough to remove the papers, so some other people there who saw my situation, helped remove the papers and turned them over to the woman. She went through each of them one by one and stamped them as being verified. Even though I did not have proof of income with me, I pointed out to her my bank statement, which showed a monthly Direct Deposit for my Social Security check.
When I got home that afternoon there was more mail awaiting me from the Medicaid office. It was further notification that something else had been denied, and a suggestion that when I tried to get other insurance I be sure to notify the agencies that I had a prior existing medical condition dating back to 1999. They were wrong on that score, just as they had been on other dates.
I was still freaked out by the time Friday came around. I decided that I needed to have someone to represent me, rather than to just assume that my Medicaid would be reinstated. I thought of various people I could contact to help me, and came up with the one person I knew would care about me the most -- my niece, Kathy, who has a Master's degree in social work, and who has her own company, which puts an emphasis on finding food for the hungry. A few months ago, she was also invited to have lunch with Mrs. Obama at the White House. I believe that says a lot for her credentials.
Friday morning I called her at work and explained my situation. She immediately offered to represent me, which was "music to my ears." She came to see me after work that day, and I gave her copies of all the material I had supplied to the Medicaid office.
I am supposed to receive a phone call from her this afternoon, and she is going to send me a fax tomorrow at my leasing office. She wants me to send a fax giving her permission to represent me. I will be more than happy to do that. She has always been kind as an angel with me, but I seriously doubt that she will be with that way when she comes up against the people who I now considered to be my adversaries.
Kathy says that although I have three medical appointments this week, I need to contact each of my providers and notify them of my situation in order to ascertain whether they will still see me. She may be right, but I am tempted to go to my appointments and tell them when I check in. I would rather tell the people face-to-face, since I think it will be harder for them to turn down seeing me in that situation.
I am hopeful that this will come to a solution quickly because I have become quite stressed out, and I strongly believe that it is beginning to have a negative affect on my overall health.
Other things have been going on in my life as well, but I will save them for another day. I think this is quite enough for the time being.
My life has not been going very well recently. During the past week, it seems to have taken somewhat of a drastic turn for the worse. I have become extremely depressed, and some of those old feelings of not wanting to go on living have returned to haunt me again.
Almost all of the news I have to report is bad. Some is worse than others, so, with that in mind, let me begin with the worst of all. Last week I learned that I am no longer eligible for Medicaid services. This is supposedly the result of my not having filled out and sent in what is called a Recertification/Redetermination Packet on time. That is partially true, and partially not true.
On June 23, I received a letter from someone with the county Medicaid office saying that I needed to fill out and complete a packet of information about myself. This is a yearly occurrence, so there is not much new from one year to another. But, the letter I received certainly was different. The date that it was written was on June 19. Within that letter it stated that I was supposed to return the packet of information to their office no later than June 13. That was six days earlier than the letter was written to begin with.
After getting that letter, I tried calling the person in the Medicaid office, but only got her voicemail, which promised to return my phone call within 2 to 3 days. I left my name, number, and a brief message explaining the situation and asking for a 10 day to two-week time extension, but my phone call was never returned.
The next thing I knew, I received a letter stating that I was no longer eligible to receive services from my various providers, which includes, but is not limited to, my home healthcare, doctors appointments, physical therapy appointments, my psychologist and mental health appointments, as well as my transportation to and from all of them.
By the time I read that letter last Tuesday, I was a nervous wreck. I did not know what to do. Later that afternoon, I happened to be talking with someone from my home healthcare agency about something else when I decided to mention what had been occurring with the Medicaid office. A staffing coordinator at the home healthcare agency said she had been made aware of my situation, but that they had decided to continue providing my healthcare for me on an indefinite basis. She said that she hoped the situation would be resolved within the next 2 to 3 weeks. I am not so sure about that.
I told her that with one exception I had all of the information that the Medicaid office wanted. The exception was proof of income from Social Security. I said that I contacted the Social Security office, and had a document stating that I was to receive the proof of income by Thursday, July 8. She suggested that I take the papers I already had and go to the local Medicaid office the next day, which is what I did.
That is one trip I would like to forget forever. I had wanted to be there by 11 AM. My transportation picked me up 45 minutes late. By the time I got to the Medicaid office, I knew that the ride to take me home would be there within 15 minutes, which was not enough time for me to see anyone. Fortunately, when the driver came to pick me up, he said he used to be a social worker in New Mexico, and he knew how important this was for me, so he would return and pick me up in another hour. That was good news.
The office had three windows at which their technicians could talk with those of us who have problems. I thought I heard them call my name, so I rolled up to window number one, and the woman there snapped at me to get away. So much for nice starts.
A few minutes later, she called me over to that window and asked me what I had wanted. I said I thought that she called my name. As it turned out, she was looking for someone with a different last name. When she learned I was not that person, she raised her voice and told me to go back to my corner. I was not very happy with her by then.
There were 11 people waiting to be seen ahead of me. As each minute ticked by, I became more and more afraid that I would not have a ride home. At one point, one of the other people there went to the window and asked this woman if he could trade places with me since I was fighting a transportation deadline. She told him that they did not make exceptions for anyone including me.
Window number two finally opened and another woman appeared. I was fortunate enough to be called to that window. As I was rolling toward it, that woman apparently did not see me and began calling out another number. Almost to a person, the other 15 to 20 people waiting to be seen called out, "He's coming!" When I got to the woman's window there were two chairs blocking my path. Two or three people got up and moved them for me.
I had more than a dozen papers with me. I was tightly holding them clasped to my chest with my arms. I was so nervous by then that I was unable to loosen up my arms enough to remove the papers, so some other people there who saw my situation, helped remove the papers and turned them over to the woman. She went through each of them one by one and stamped them as being verified. Even though I did not have proof of income with me, I pointed out to her my bank statement, which showed a monthly Direct Deposit for my Social Security check.
When I got home that afternoon there was more mail awaiting me from the Medicaid office. It was further notification that something else had been denied, and a suggestion that when I tried to get other insurance I be sure to notify the agencies that I had a prior existing medical condition dating back to 1999. They were wrong on that score, just as they had been on other dates.
I was still freaked out by the time Friday came around. I decided that I needed to have someone to represent me, rather than to just assume that my Medicaid would be reinstated. I thought of various people I could contact to help me, and came up with the one person I knew would care about me the most -- my niece, Kathy, who has a Master's degree in social work, and who has her own company, which puts an emphasis on finding food for the hungry. A few months ago, she was also invited to have lunch with Mrs. Obama at the White House. I believe that says a lot for her credentials.
Friday morning I called her at work and explained my situation. She immediately offered to represent me, which was "music to my ears." She came to see me after work that day, and I gave her copies of all the material I had supplied to the Medicaid office.
I am supposed to receive a phone call from her this afternoon, and she is going to send me a fax tomorrow at my leasing office. She wants me to send a fax giving her permission to represent me. I will be more than happy to do that. She has always been kind as an angel with me, but I seriously doubt that she will be with that way when she comes up against the people who I now considered to be my adversaries.
Kathy says that although I have three medical appointments this week, I need to contact each of my providers and notify them of my situation in order to ascertain whether they will still see me. She may be right, but I am tempted to go to my appointments and tell them when I check in. I would rather tell the people face-to-face, since I think it will be harder for them to turn down seeing me in that situation.
I am hopeful that this will come to a solution quickly because I have become quite stressed out, and I strongly believe that it is beginning to have a negative affect on my overall health.
Other things have been going on in my life as well, but I will save them for another day. I think this is quite enough for the time being.
Replies