28 September 2011

The Great Depression of the 2010's musings part 3-Medicaid, Medicare, Disability, and Unemployment for the under 50 crowd

I have had one of the worst days in quite sometime. I was informed early this afternoon that because our son turned 18 we were no longer eligible for Medicaid. My son will have Medicaid until his 19th birthday but my husband and I are SOL. Here are the life events that happened last year:

June 2010-Laid off as a Teacher
July-November 2010-Paying full price for medications. Husbands pain meds for diabetic neropathy was at $200 a month for the one med.
October 2010-Husband suffers a Bell's Palsy episode. Taken to County (No CAT-Scan was done)
October-November 2010-Pay full office visit price for eye specialist (4 times)
November 2010 (Sunday after Thanksgiving)-Husband has a stroke
November 2010-December 2010(2 Days before Christmas)-Husband hospitalized. Loses mobility and function on entire left side.
January 2011-(2 weeks after release and stayed for a week)-Husband re-admitted to hospital because of blood clots in leg. Put on blood thinners for the rest of his life.

Flash forward to today. My husband was approved for Disability at age 49. He is still slowly recovering. He needs physical and occupational therapy twice a week and to visit the coumidin clinic for his blood thinner levels once a month. Not to mention the 16 medications he is on.


Social Security told me he is not eligible for Medicare until 24 months after he was approved for Disability. That means we have to wait until November 29th of 2012 before he can have medical benefits. EVERYTHING will be out of pocket. 


How can they honestly think that Disability and Unemployment make for rolling in the cash? They do not take into consideration that rent takes almost half of all of the money that comes into the house. We have NOTHING and yet they don't even want my husband to have a chance to live? We cannot afford 16 medications. Some of them will be covered under the Walgreen or Walmart plans of $4 meds but there are so many he will no longer be able to take because of what? 

I have been loosing it after every call. My eyes are so big and puffy. I have no idea what we are going to do. We have no one to help. I have never felt so alone in my life.

3 comments:

Dr. MVM said...

I got tossed off Medicaid when my state's Democratic party governor decided that only kids should be covered. Thank goodness I had already gotten them to pay for my bypass surgery. I'm on Medicare now and if I get a bill from a medical provider after Medicare pays what they're going to pay, I write the medical provider back and tell them they will have to be satisfied with what Medicare paid them because I have no extra money to pay what they think I owe. atis

Dr. MVM said...

But seriously, hang in there. And tell all the doctors and hospitals that you can't pay right away and that you'll pay them some on regular basis.

Bats in the Belfry said...

It is so heartbreaking the way the sick and poor are treated in this country. How can a Disabled person be denied Medicare for 24 months after being deemed eligible for Disability because they are under the age of 65? My husband didn't choose to have a stroke and would have preferred not to. Just as you would have preferred not to have had bypass surgery. All of us pay into Medicare yet we cannot get it when we need it?

I was thinking of using that on my student loans and credit cards, which up until I became a displaced teacher, I payed religiously every month. I had actually had one of them paid off and the other two were almost paid off before I was laid off.