Tag: Supplemental Security Income


One Week

10
February

Today is the 10th of February, which means that there’s exactly 1 week until my birthday. (Presents would be awesome. Heh. I kid. I kid.) It also means that in 2 days I will be exactly the same age that my mother was when she had me. I don’t think that I’m ready to be 27 yet. Of course, I guess that doesn’t matter since we all end up aging whether we’re ready for it or not.

As I did last year, I’ve set up a birthday wish for donations to be sent to AARDA. I’m doing better in donations this year. Instead of $0 raised so far, I’ve actually raised $10. The person who donated is one of my friends who has MS, which is an autoimmune disorder. I was a bit surprised that anyone donated.

Since it’s almost birthday time, it was also time to renew fps. (Like I’ve mentioned multitudes of times, fps is going to be 10 this year and was a present from my mom for my 17th birthday.) So, this domain will be around for another year. (I plan on keeping it much longer.) I also renewed the domains for several of my tumblrs and my opinions blog. (I need to blog more on the latter domain.)

In non-related birthday stuff, I need to start getting together all the information that I’ll need for my rheumatology appointment in Birmingham. I tend to go to these kinds of appointments with absolutely no information on-hand and fill out the forms from my (shrinks-when-I’m-nervous) memory. I don’t want to do that this time, so I guess that means I have work to do.

Comment » | 10 Years of Madness, Confessions, FPS-Related, Friends, Geekery, Plans for Life, Purchases, Tumblr

The Wait Is Over

28
January

The Judge sent a letter to the lawyer today that said that the Writ of Garnishment has been dismissed. My mom and I were quite happy to hear that when the lawyer called, and my dad was happy when he found out. Of course, we’re still going to have to wait for the money to be put back in the bank–if it ever is.

But I think there has been a bit more joy to end this week than there was towards the beginning. I just wish that none of this had ever happened in the first place.

4 comments » | Confessions, Family, General, Purchases

Writ of Stupidity

26
January

My parents went yesterday to stop Wells Fargo from garnishing their account since the only thing in it was the disability payment from Social Security. When they got there, they were apparently told that the less than $200 in their account had already been seized by the bank–most of it for the bank’s $100 fee. This, as you might already know, was the wrong thing to do.

My parents had 30 days to respond to the order which was issued on the 19th (a week today). That meant that the money wasn’t supposed to be garnished for those 30 days. The money was gone within the first week, though. So, my parents had to go to the local Legal Aid office.

They found out that a lot of banks do this. They also found out that the lawyer’s office (Nathan & Nathan) that pursued the debt has a tendency to pursue debts that they know can’t be paid–thus they pursue frivolous lawsuits.

My parents and I have to go in tomorrow to the Legal Aid office to sign some paperwork to stop the garnishment. (I have to go since $200 of my money goes into their account every month to cover the expenses I’m supposed to pay as part of the SSI thing.) The lawyers told my parents that they probably won’t get the money back, but that hopefully this will stop the freezing of the account and will prevent any more money from being taken.

1 comment » | Causes, Confessions, Family, General, National Weirdness, Plans for Life, Rants

This Not That

29
December

In 2008, I started trying to get my property tax waiver. (As a disabled person, I qualify for a waiver of the property tax.) I didn’t get it then because the paperwork submitted didn’t prove that I have a “total and permanent disability”. I had submitted a Proof of Income letter, which is generally acceptable to prove that a person receives SSDI payments. Not for the Alabama Department of Revenue.

Well, today, I went to the Social Security Administration office in town. I waited for about an hour. I got my original 2005 award letter, which is the thing that was supposedly required for the waiver. (It was the one declaring me disabled and wasn’t from the period from 1992 until 2002, when my mother received $100/month to help take care of me. The girl at the office was very specific about this.) After that hour, my father and I trekked to downtown and went to the office of the Tax Assessor for the county. I handed over my award letter. Person #1 had to call person #2. Person #2 and #1 went to #2′s desk, where they debated and discussed why I was rejected the first time. They determined that they would come tell me that this new award letter was the same thing that I had given before and would not suffice. They also said that because it didn’t say I had a total, permanent disability, it wouldn’t be considered legitimate. The letter didn’t say those specific words. It did mention, many times, the term “disabled”. It also mentioned my case would be reviewed in 2007. (The other letter, which they still had a copy of, was from 2008, when I was still receiving benefits.) I eventually got to see the actual Tax Assessor, who said that they would send the old information with the new information and that it should work, but that the Department of Revenue might not approve it because of the terminology used in the letter. She said I might have to go and have 1-2 doctors declare me permanently disabled.

For the record, a permanent disability is generally one that will last at least 1 year and will typically end in death. That the general legal definition, at least. According to the SSA, the definition is:

“Disability” under Social Security is based on your inability to work. We consider you disabled under Social Security rules if:

  • You cannot do work that you did before;
  • We decide that you cannot adjust to other work because of your medical condition(s); and
  • Your disability has lasted or is expected to last for at least one year or to result in death.

To qualify, I had to have an income below $1000, have a severe problem that would keep me from working, have a disorder from the list – aka the Blue Book (I had 6 at that time–8 now are on my file), have an inability to do work done previously or any other kind of work. I had to submit pretty much my entire medical history to the SSA. I also had to go to 2 different doctors, chosen by the SSA folks, and go through tests, exams, etc. I qualified and was approved after all of this was reviewed. Apparently, though, this may not be enough for the State of Alabama to agree that I am, in fact, disabled.

If the state does determine that I’m disabled, though, the Tax Assessor said that it would apply from the first time I applied for the waiver–so 3 years x about $400-$450 = good. I just am not counting on it. Things in life are never that easy.

Keep your fingers crossed, I guess.

Comment » | Alabama Weirdness, Confessions, General, Mental Health, Rants, Sickness and Health

Under My Feet

6
September

I haven’t really been online a lot this weekend. That’s mainly due to heightened anxiety/stress. I think that’s due to the beginning of football season. Around the time my father woke up on Saturday morning, I started giving myself my headache medicine. It kept me asleep for around 12-13 hours. I ended up waking up during Auburn’s halftime, which meant I got to experience rants full-on. I had missed the rants about the teams that he didn’t even care about, which was good. I had wished I could make it through the Auburn ones, too, but they would have been harder to miss. Auburn ended up winning, which was good. If they had lost, then I probably would’ve started dosing myself into unconsciousness again. (I’ve often used medicines to induce sleep. It’s how I managed to sleep while I was having major sleep issues during middle and high school.)

I started crying sometime in the early morning hours on Sunday. I just felt like I was ready to scream, throw things, etc. I started composing a very long letter to my parents about how I felt like I needed to be taken more seriously. (This was what I used to do when I was a little kid–if I needed something or if I felt like I needed to apologize, I’d write a letter.) Well, the ink ran out of the pen and I got upset and threw it across the room. It barely made a sound when it hit Willow’s chair, but it was loud enough that my mom woke up. We ended up talking, and I complained about the thing on my stomach, which she checked out a little closer this time. She was surprised because it was burning up, and I told her that that was normal. (It is hot most of the time, but it gets worse in the middle of the night [around 3:30-5:00 AM] and it starts hurting worse.) I have an appointment to get it checked out with my family medicine doctor, but I have honestly lost faith in most doctors lately. Yeah, they send me for the tests, but the longer this whole saga goes on, the more dismissive they get. (Half the time, the results are never relayed to me.) And with the cardiologist refusing to even suggest anything that could help the extra beats and tachycardia, it just seems to be stupid to go through massive amounts of tests.

Speaking of tests and medical records, I think that is unfair that if I want to access my medical records, I have to pay fees. (Where is Files & Records when you need her?) If I want a copy of my blood work, I have to pay per page of the test, which can be 20-or-so pages. The doctors, who have a lot more money, don’t have to pay anything. They can get paper copies or faxes or computer access without paying anything. All that they really need is a signature from me to share the records. (If they’re in the Huntsville Hospital system and the record is on my hospital file, they don’t even need my signature.) All these people can see whatever they want about me, but I don’t get to see my own file. (At the Mental Health Center, I don’t even get the opportunity to pay for the records to see what’s been said. I can have my therapist or doctor or one of the nurses read it to me, though.)

I’m a little frustrated with the Social Security Administration. When I started on SSI and SSDI, I was told that if I started paying $200+ a month in household expenses, then my SSI check would be increased by that much. After I got the first check, I began doing just that. I’ve told the SSA about this twice. I filled out lots of paperwork the first time–nothing happened. I called again in May or June (or possibly early July)–I haven’t even gotten paperwork or anything that says that anything will happen. I get that the government doesn’t really have lots of money right now, but it seems like they could at least hold up their end of the 1/3 reduction rule.

Anyway, right now I’m dealing with an earache and headache that my mom told me was probably just TMJ. I agreed at first, but after a while, my throat began hurting. I would say it was allergies, but I know that’s not likely.

Comment » | Family, General, Mental Health, National Weirdness, Sickness and Health, So Damn Special

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor…

22
January

I saw that there is a group on Facebook for requiring drug tests for people to get welfare, which sounds like a good idea to some. What’s going to happen with the children of the parents who are on drugs, though?

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, aka what most people are talking about when they say Welfare, is not just for the parents. It’s for the children, as well. It provides for a family that is in need. Admittedly, children shouldn’t be in families where the parent is an addict, but we don’t demand that ALL parents submit for drug testing.

If you took children away from the families on TANF because of drug use, then where would you put them? The foster care system in America is already taxed. These kids would have to go somewhere. And if you did put them in foster care, you couldn’t guarantee that every foster parent would be good to the kids. You can’t guarantee that the children would be better off away from drug using parents when put in the custody of a foster family or a group home.

Also, if drug testing is required for one government assistance program, then are you going to require it for every government assistance program? Are you going to test anyone on any form of Social Security (from retirement benefits to SSDI to SSI, etc.)? Are you going to test everyone on Food Stamps? Should anyone who benefits from any help from HUD be required to submit? If all of that is okay, what about when someone pays too much income tax and gets back a refund? I know, you think of that as your money, but when the government is giving it back to you and you’re using it for something you need/want/whatever, then aren’t you using government assistance? Are all tax refund recipients going to have to undergo drug testing? What about FAFSA applicants? I bet that would help the government if we took away financial aid from college students who use drugs and alcohol. I mean, that IS government assistance.

Why TANF beneficiaries? Why not everyone?

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