Yes at 3 months prior to my dtr turning 18 yes, she applied and was awarded benefits for being disabled before age 18 and continues on as a dependant (as she was before age 18) under her fathers and my ssdi.
I came to post- LOL- our check for her came today! Back pay retro to her birthday. BUT, LOL- NO letters at all came, nothing..........just a check in my name as her rep payee for her care. (same as I get for her under 18 sibs)
AT the time of application, the soc sec office was not entirely certain if she would get dependants coverage and thus ? what kind of medical, but for us for her, she has an app pending with VA as well, for "helpless child" for her bipolar and anxiety, as well......and if awarded THAT she will have ChampVA medical coverage, anyway. - So whether she gets Medicare or Medicaide will not make such a difference becuz ChampVA will cover what Medicare doesn't. (ChampVA is secondary to Medicare)
Yeah I tried pushing 0 and 1 etc, all kinds of things, did not help, especially when most of the time I got a busy signal, not a ringing phone, and then 2nd most I got a phone that rang and rang but went unanswered thru 50-60 rings and then disconencted. (at our local office)
I do not know how to explain it but......yes, our hospitals here do and have "wiggled out" of delivering charity care........not just me and not just once. They can be quite creative.
One time my husband was in an accident, head injury, abdominal injuries, massive road rash.......ambulance brought him in to ER. Paramedics had administered morphine, to which husband is highly allergic. (makes him psychotic and destabilizes his vital signs) hospital refused to even look at him, he was laying on a gurney. They simply discharged him. He was not aware,. alert, oriented. He was bleeding all over, his right arm hung askew. he was covered in embedded gravel. I arrive to ER in my elec scooter, having been summoned by police at the accident scene to find hospital telling me to ....take him home..."he's fine" Uh scuse me, I am a nurse and I KNOW he is NOT "fine" And how do you think I am gonna even get that barely conscious person out of here to the car? Not their problem. I ask to see his XRays, I see bleeding on the pillow under his head. hospital staff walked away, next thing, theres security, who pushed gurney out to parking lot. They put husband into my car and I drove the almost 2 hours to VA hospital where he was admitted to ICU for 3 weeks.....lacerated spleen, broken collarbone, dislocated shoulder, back of head split open. He has Medicare, had it at time of accident.
MY easy child was on school basketball team. Went head first into bleachers, hit her face first, broke her top front teeth, split open her mouth, broke her wrist. Principal rushed to my side while I was at her side, and whispered to me, you know we do not cover these type accidents? Only after I acknoledged him saying THAT would he call 9-1-1........ BUT another parent in bleachers with me was a paramedic and she called.
AMbulance transport to hospital- unsure if there was a broken neck, due to how she hit.
AT ER first thing they said was they do not can not handle anything with teeth or mouths. They do not have a dentist on call.
2nd thing they said was they cannot treat a broken bone becuz we have to go TO orthos office for treatment of broken bones. It was 8 PM on a Fri nite. I know the ortho in our county, and he does NOT have sat office hours and he also does not accept Medicaide. (He can refuse to accept public aide in his office) OK, a broken wrist is not generally considered life threatening BUT it is still emergency care, and it is still a community hospital, and they would not even do xrays. AND they also would not XRay her neck, saying the ortho could do that as well, when we saw the ortho. SO- they did NOTHING and tried to discharge us. AHA! Across the hall was a boy from the private school in town, ALSO a victim of a basketball team accident, LOL..also needed an ortho consult, apparently..........becuz........the ortho was present at THAT kids bedside.........setting THAT kids broken arm. I waited in the hall for ortho and demanded he come set my childs wrist,. He tried to hem and haw. But I threatened him and when security came to remove me and my easy child from the exam area, I told security I would sue his rear as well, if he did.
There are many many more stories similar. Yes our hospital is a community hospital and technically they do have to accept Medicare and Medicaide. But they manage to find ways around it. They also in the last 2 years have begun handing incoming patients with a waiver to sign saying they are an ER and as such, they cannot be held accountable for misdiagnosis, becuz there are too many variables in emergency medicine, and they cannot possibly gather all the info needed to give a correct diagnosis so in order to be seen, you have to sign this stupid (probably illegal) waiver.
Yes, I have a total now of FOUR friends who have SUED this hospital........2 have w on, 2 are still in court. Sadly 2 of the cases DID result in death. Last week I read our hospital was named one of top 10 in our state. Yeah, OK. go figure.
WHY do we go there? We no longer do, but.......in a severe emergency, if you call 9-1-1 this is the only place an ambulance here WILL take you.
It is also the only hospital for an hour+.
ANd since no docs accept Medicare or Medicaide here, either- we have moved all our healthcare 3 hours )at least) away to the city.
The sad dumb thing? We are NOT that rural, nor are we that isolated.........the theory according to letters to the editor in our paper is we are affluent (we are in top 10 affluent counties in the nation) BUT our population refuses to acknowledge or accept we have any needy people.
Truth is, ALL our group homes for transitioning teens closed approx 5 years ago, every single one. Our home for autistic young adults closed. We have no homeless shelter, no battered womens shelter. WHY? becuz the citizens of our county 1. say- no we do not have that type problem here. and 2. they say, NO, not in MY backyard, NO, you will NOT place THAT here where I live.
Even when you do have Medicaide here, and technically you are supposed to have some degree of dental coverage? When you call to find out where to go to access dental coverage? You are told either in the city (Chicago) or way down south IL, always it is at least a 2 hour drive. Often if you try to get services in CHicago or down south (chicago is a different county) - when you arrive, you are told you live "outside their service area"
Many of these programs look good on paper, but, many of them sometimes do not work out quite how they were originally intended.
Yes, I advocate and lobby. Yes, I go to our state capital. I am involved with NAMI and veterans groups etc to try to change these experiences to more positive ones. Yes our politicians are VERY aware.
Yes, it is a true fact, our hospitals DO wiggle out. and yes it has been documented, by politicians and a few others of powers that be etc.
It was a problem for our indigent residents of the nursing home where I worked, too.......and for the homeless veterans requireing help and returning from service etc. It is a problem of the displaced mentally ill. EVen when you DO get them the benefits to help them, the benefits far too often fail.
Yes, I have been active and busy since 1990 learning all about these systems.
Yes, my dtr got evaluated, and was approved.......she was denied SSI since her disability b egan and is documented to have begun MANY years before age 18. SHe did NOT get SSI previously, under age 18 becuz her dependants amount was higher than SSI would have been.
BUT soc sec found her disabilities to affect her severely enough to award her benefits.
My husband gets ssdi, and has since 1990, I get ssdi and have since 200. Our combined ssdi puts us just over the income elgibility cutoff for my KIDS to get Medicaide. Yes, me and husband get Medicare. Thank goodness the military awarded my husband his VA benefits, and now the kids have ChampVA coverage.
SO again- we applied for my dtr for benefits thru soc sec for her in AUg. her 18th birthday was 3rd of Nov. In Oct soc sec local told me she had been approved and awarded but who knew when he checks would begin? Now it is march, and her back pay check came.
