Huh?

So, today I go to a new doctor... hoping for some answers and paying cash.  I tell him my abbreviated history and what my continuing medical issues are.  He looks me in the eye and says, "Whoa, you got screwed really bad."  "They didn't see the fractures in the MRI?"  "4 months?!  You're lucky you can walk."  "So, you lost your job, have no insurance, and no money(of your own)?  Well... not even the Georgia Medical College will take you without insurance.  I can give you a referral to a lawyer."

Sigh... oh the frustration of an impoverished, marginalized, minority.  Sucks to be disabled.  I guess that means I won't be getting any medical care there.

Seriously, true story... scared yet?

What a fine mess...

The last time I left you, there was still a glimmer of hope on the horizon... well that ship has sailed.  

I had "Family Medicaid", and my son and I had reasonable coverage(it paid for some things and it was an act of God or Congress for others), but we had it.  My son turned 19 on February 6th... according to the Gods of Social Services, to whom we must bow, act as a court jester, and contortionist in order to receive the most minimal of help.  I digress.  My son and I lost our insurance on February 28th, 2011, even though our caseworker documented as on our insurance cards we were approved until June, at which time we would have to submit to a review to make sure yours truly was still a indigent cripple. 

I was told I had to contact the supervisor because my caseworker had retired.  I called the supervisor six times and she did not return my panic stricken phone messages when I received the cancellation letter which had a date 5 days from mailing which was 3 days from receipt saying it might be a mistake or I could file a appeal but it had to be done by that date.  Off the the Social Services office I go.  I waited for over an hour in the office to speak to her, get this... this is the kicker.  I was called to the front desk after an hour, the woman at the desk is holding a phone out to me and says that the supervisor is on the phone for me.  She proceeds to say, I'm sorry... I am training a new person and we are going out to lunch so I need to do this over the phone.  WTF????  Seriously... I am disabled, going to PT 3 times a week, a new Neurologist who was in the process of ordering new CAT scans, a therapist once a week, my doctor, my son is going to a Neurologist, the doctor every 2 weeks for lung capacity testing and liver enzyme checks... combined my child and I are on $3,000.00 a month worth of medication and you can only imagine how much in doctor visits and are losing our health insurance...6 phone calls, 35 minute drive, 1 hour wait... "I am going out to lunch and we have to do this over the phone."  Okay.

So, I ask what is going on, we were approved until June, 2011 at which time we have to submit to a review.  Supervisor says, yes... unless your child turns 19 years old during that time.  I say, Ummm... doesn't it say in the file what my son's birth date is?  Supervisor says, Yes... yes it does.  I say, Okay... why were we not told this when we applied, and why in God's name were we approved until June when it was clear to all that he turned 19 in February...  it is even stated in the Medicaid rules handbook we still receive coverage until his 21st birthday (unless I or he make any money).  Even in the "word definition" section, "child" is described as anyone under the age of 21.

Supervisor says, Well Family Medicaid stops at the child's 19th birthday and then the child's file is sent to Raleigh for evaluation to see if he qualifies for another medical coverage program.  I say, That is not in the Handbook, nor was that ever spoken about or explained to me... I was told "you are covered until June, then a review".  I am disabled and go to the doctors 4 sometimes 5 times a week, and my son is in need of extensive medical care at this time... our combined just medication, which is not only medically necessary, but the only reason either of us are functioning at all, is almost $3,000.00 per month.  Supervisor says, I'm sorry... I guess you'll need to go to as many doctors appointments as you can this month.  I say, it's the 12th and I have until the 28th... and that doesn't help with the medication situation after the 28th does it.  Supervisor says, No... but, you can go to as many appointments as you can.  Well, I've got to go.  Sorry I can't help you.  Bye.

Yes... yes... every bit of that is true.  Is your mouth open?  Mine is again, as I re-tell the story.

My son almost died in October... he was in deep coma for 2 days, then started to rally on the 3rd day, and sorta woke up later in the 3rd day.  He was in the hospital for about a week.  The doctors said he was a miracle, they said they had never seen anyone survive what he went through, let alone restored brain function.  He brain is damaged, miraculously not showing any signs... his lungs are damaged but healing, his liver is damaged but healing... he is in need of regular testing and medication.  He has no insurance now.

I as you know, am totally disabled.  I had just changed Physical Therapy centers and Neurologists... the PT center was starting to get an idea of what was going on.  They believed it was not only my nerve damage, but that from what they were feeling and my symptoms, it was an almost certain conclusion that when they strap your arms down to moving tables and splay you out like a crucifixion during surgery they had also torn my rotator cuff.  So, with that conclusion they were using new methods and I was moving towards some mobility.   All the while they were saying it was crucial to continue because as soon as I stopped I would slide all the way back and possibly lose any chance of getting any mobility back.  The Neurologist thought that on top of the C-6 nerve root damage and possible rotator injury, they never addressed the presence of blood in my brain over a week after my fall.  Do to my other symptoms, like the stabbing pain in my right eye and my right side migraines as well as my continuing symptoms of loss of sensation that it was a distinct possibility that I could have peripheral neuropathy or trigeminal neuralgia and that we needed to do some more tests.  He said he wanted to do a CAT and that if that didn't show enough he could do an MRI because he could do it high enough so that the titanium in my neck would not cause an echo.  I lost my insurance before we could do any tests.  I also cannot go to physical therapy anymore.

So... if that isn't enough, I have lost my apartment and have had to move back to Georgia.  Since I was denied SSI/SSDI... of course, my Medicaid was cut off, and have no more avenues to pursue.  My mother could not afford to let me stay there anymore and there was no more reasons to have to stay.  As well as finding out that my Landlord had been defrauding me to the tune of almost $5,000 in the almost 2 years I've lived there since my accident.  Oh, and that is another story I'm not even getting into.  

So, dear ones... I am ruined.  I have no hope of getting better.  By the time I go through all of the appeals with Social Security and if I even get it, we are talking years.  I will have become irreversably chronic.

Am I going to sue... if I can find a lawyer who thinks that there is "money in it".  Am I going to continue to fight these types of injustices for others... damn right!  I may be a lost cause, but I am merely a cog in the wheel, there are people in this now, people that will be here some day... I am going to fight for them!!!  I hope someone reads this damn blog... I hope they are outraged by it.  I hope they tell their friends to read this and read Rob Delsman's blog and revolt, write letters, protest, yell it from the mountain tops, and help make legislation that holds these contemptuous bastards to task as well as change legislation that allows our Government programs to throw disabled people away or hold us off until we hopefully die or give up.

Fight with me... fight with all of us!