The epilogue is being finished · 9:59pm Jul 1st, 2018
But it is slow going.
My writing has been distracted by the events in my life. Recently, I found out that I am losing my health care. This is kind of a problem, as you could imagine. I've started up an appeal process, but as of yet, nothing has happened. My EBT benefits got terminated as well. Overall, this has been a very stressful time and it has done a nasty number on my mental health. There are other things as well that have me maxed out on the old stress-o-meter.
I go to write, get halfway through a paragraph, and lose my train of thought because I start wondering what I am going to do if the appeals process fails. I was just making headway with the doctor's office too, and was on the verge of getting a new prosthetic and possibly a new wheelchair, things I needed. My old wheelchair is a death-trap and my prosthetic doesn't fit right anymore because my leg has become a bit more warped. Not sure how I can describe it. My knee is disintegrating due to osteoarthritis and the metal scraping away at stuff with every movement I make.
Tense times, lemme tell ya.
⤟Hearth's Warming⤠
The brand new phonograph was of exceptional quality and the sound that poured from the speakers was indistinguishable from the real thing coming from a live performance. Octavia had never sounded better than she did right now, and Vinyl Scratch was listening with a critical pricked ear. Of particular interest to Sumac was the fact that the high-fidelity phonograph was made by Scratch-Tastic Industries. Nothing had been said about it, but Sumac found it quite fascinating, that Vinyl had begun production of her own sound equipment, no doubt built to her exacting standards.
A myriad of holiday scents almost overwhelmed Sumac and would be forever associated with the holidays. Sweet and savoury spices, the distinctive scent of beeswax candles, the overpowering perfume of evergreens, every memory created seemed to have a smell that paired with it. For Sumac, this Hearth’s Warming would be truly unforgettable, because it was his first time celebrating it in such a way, surrounded by friends and family.
Though some part of Sumac missed the hungry, chilly moments spent in the wagon.
Hoping things go better for you, sir. I've no way to say that I understand what you're going through, but I do wish the fates would smile upon you. We'll always be here for you.
What the hell is this with all the audits and benefits clawbacks if you’re on disability? I lost most of my SNAP, too, and they’ve gone over my SSI 3x this year, disallowing things that had been cleared (like a fundraiser for training my service dog). So I now have to pay back over $5k, because training a service dog isn’t’ cheap and you’re not allowed to have over $2k at once if you’re on SSI, without a waiver. And they just took away that Waiver for Medical Equipment, over 3 years after. I’ll never get my full benefits again. (And here comes my service dog into my lap.)
What I’m saying is, this is systemic. This isn’t just happening to immigrants. It’s also happening to the disabled, almost invisibly. Did you know Congress actually raided Social Security? Actually took money from it to cover other parts of the budget, with no plans to pay it back? It’s in the papers, just not on the front page, because there’s so much other OMG FUCK LOOK going on.
:hugs: I hope your appeal goes well. Try calling your Senator’s county office, and telling them what’s going on. They can actually do something, and. I’ve found they are more than willing to make those phone calls or send those emails. That’s what they’re there for.
4893002
Yeah. I'm not working, so I don't qualify for benefits.
Not sure how this ends.
4893005
SSI. That’s what you apply for if you don’t have enough work credits for SSDI. Since I’d stayed home with my kids until they went to school, and only then worked, I by no means had enough work credits at age 30 to qual for SSDI. I can’t work due to a combo of genetic disorder and brain injury (I used to work a desk job, and had accessibility requirements). Then the brain injury, and... well. I process wool, spin & knit and read fanfic to pass the time.
it is insanity that health care only works if you are not too unhealthy. it is a sick joke, truly it is.
at this point it seems that if you are disabled it would be cheaper and better for your health if you left the country to a place that DOES have some form of health care. and moving to another country is a damn expensive and stressful thing to begin with.
hoping you find some solution to this... god i wish i could do more than just say that >_<. a well wish shows you that i worry but it cannot help you keep your health care. can't help bring back the ebt. jsut a display of support that cannot undo or alleviate these issues.
all i can say is that if the appeal fails, send another and another. harass the fuck out of em, don't let it sit idle. if life refuses to be fair, flip it off and keep trying anyway!... overcoming the bullshit bureaucracy is possible man. Me and my family somehow did it, recovering from our hosue being destroyed in a fire, and even bullshit after that. i hope you manage to overcome it too.
4893022
I got rejected. And lawyers don't take SSI cases.
I am terrified the day will come where I am told my insulin will no longer be covered by Medicaid, so I do understand how scary this all is. I'm hoping things work out, kudzu, not just because you're easily one of my favorite authors, but because you're a human being who deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, and what we have now passing for a safety net is so threadbare as to be laughable.
All of my best.
4893049
it seems to largely be to be the exceptoinally disabled that end up dropped for some deranged reason. insulin may be safe....... hopefully.
its sheer stupidity man. even at the most hearless levels it is sutpidity. you can't sustain machinery if you do not keep it going, and the population is the machinery of a nation.
4893053
4893049
My insurance provider bitched that my insulin was too expensive and my heart meds too. They didn't want to pay for it. This was before I was dropped.
Said I was abusing the system seeing the doctor every few weeks. Abusing the system by seeing a doctor. I was seeing the doctor every week or every other week and not once a year, which was causing problems. And seeing so many different doctors. Really expensive specialists. And I am sensitive to insulin, so I can't take cheap stuff. I am kinda stuck taking Humalog, because it is just about the only thing that doesn't send me to the hospital. It still burns like a motherfucker though with every injection. My body just doesn't react well to it. Causes really bad cramps and spasms.
I have congestive heart failure. I take a pill that draws fluid off of my heart.
And that was too costly to keep providing.
4893057
halfway sounds like they are trying to kill you more than anything.
once a week... sighs. there has to be something there you can use to your advantage. no one goes weekly for check ups unless they need it. and considering your ass literally spits out shrapnel from a bike a few decades ago..... gotta be information you can use there. proof that they can't deny you or that you weren't abusing the system. they may not want to pay it but if there is proof that you need it, that may help.
in a world of logic and reason though it would definitively help you and a man with heart issues, diabetes, who is missing a leg and shits motorcycle parts wouldn't be threatened with this stupidity.
sighs. i wonder if you could potentially charge people behind these drops with murder, if not war crimes. they are literally killing people. if someone suddenly ran into a hospital and started taking people off life support, they would be charged with murder. they are not personally killing them, just denying them what they need to survive.
you ahve my prayers man. and i am not one who prays.
4893053 - I don't know, I've had one of my friends be denied her insulin several times, it being deemed "medically unnecessary." As if Type I diabetes can be handled without it. Some insurance agencies are beyond foolish, and by some, I mean most.
4893057 - Same here when it comes to getting the right insulin. Humalog is also the one that causes me the least trouble, but I've been told several times to try not to use as much. You know, because diabetes can be fit into an easy to manage schedule. As I said before, all my best hopes are with you as you go through this. We need a better system, and we need it 30 years ago.
It genuinely sounds like you'd be better off applying for Canadian citizenship, or moving to Europe or something. Unless that negatively affects whatever you're going through with your insurance currently.
4893108
Canada and Europe aren't going to take a cripple with no means to support himself. That's not happening.
This is now three people (two close friends) in the past week that have expressed that it may be necessary to leave America for health and safety reasons.
I hope you don't live in Michigan, cause our governor (most famous for accidently on purpose poisoning the city of Flint) just imposed work requirements on Medicaid.
Cause you know, disabled folk who can't work should have to work.. I hate snyder.
Anywho, you could go silent for 6 straight months and still be the most prolific author I read, (that might be enough time for me to catch up).
You take care of you. Real world comes first.
We'll wait.
This terrifies me. Not just for the refusal for help and betrayal of contracts, not just for the message of "they want you you die", but it terrifies me most for the implication that you are not recognized as a human person in their eyes, and they may not even have the empathic experiences or capacity to internalize the existence of other people.
4893046
You always get rejected the first try. It’s how they try to minimize the pool (horrible, right?). You need to keep appealing, right up to the judge level. If you did that, then that’s a travesty.
You don’t have SSI/SSDI lawyers where you are? They take the case, know the right people, and the charge cannot be more than 25% of your backpayment. So you’re never left with less than you started with. They usually want you to have one refusal under your belt.
If this isn’t helping, let me know. I just hate the thought of what you’re dealing with.
Damn. That doesn't sound good at all :(
I hope that your appeal goes well.
4893066
Medicaid regularly changes my thyroid medication to one that doesn’t work but is cheaper until my doctors fill in the waiver forms again.
Six months will not magically make that formulation start working for me. So sorry the cheaper generic doesn’t do the job.
4893315
With SSI, there is no back payment, which is why lawyers won't take the case unless you pay them up front. This was how it was for me in South Carolina. There is also the matter that once rejected, you have to wait to reapply again. I exhausted my application and appeals, and had to wait. I am about to fire up the process again for Illinois, but given the current administration and political climate, I have grace concerns about my success. I mean, I can't even get EBT benefits or healthcare at the moment.
It's been... disheartening. If it wasn't for Scarheart, I think I might've fallen apart by now.
4893321
if there is a heaven i think scarheart has well earned his place there.
4893321
O.o That’s bullshit. Someone has been misinforming you, or your state isn’t following the rules (it does happen, NH doesn’t for one). I got a couple year’s backpayment, enough it had to be broken up so I didn’t go over the magical $2k line (that’s how long it took).
Fuck, I’m sorry. That is a truly shitty situation to be in. You need medical care, and amputation care is no joke.
4893358
I never lost my leg. It's just useless and needs a prosthetic to function.
Fuck it, I get the money, you [kudzu] and I are moving to Scotland. They shouldn't deny you entry, let alone citizenship if you're staying with someone who does work and pay into the system... Right...?