Need info for my wife regarding long term/social security disability

My wife was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer 17 years ago. She did chemo and radiation. Twelve years ago there was a recurrence and they did the stem cell transplant. Ten years ago she moved to Georgia and began teaching here. Her school system provided her with a long term disability policy that they paid for for all full-time employees. The policy went into effect after 1 year of employment - otherwise it was considered a preexisting condition. My wife continued to be cancer free for the past 10 years, although she continued to follow a hormonal therapy regimen and get 6 month checkups. Two months ago there was a recurrence of the breast cancer. She has had surgery and will begin aggressive chemotherapy next month. She has enough accumulated sick leave, and paid leave available through a sick leave bank, to make it through 6 months. At that time we're looking at long term disability, social security disability, and early retirement disability from the school system. Does anyone know whether her earlier bouts with the cancer will create a preexisting condition and denial of long term disability, even though she has not had a problem the past 10 years? Also, she is now in a school system that opted out of social security, so she hasn't paid into SS in 10 years, although she put in enough time in another system that was in SS to be eligible for full benefits. Any idea how that works when she applies for SS disability? She needs to focus all her mental and physical energy on fighting her disease, so I'm doing all the financial stuff. We married 5 years ago. I was aware of her health history, but didn't go through the first two bouts with the cancer so I'm needing to learn now.

By cancerkicker
Posted November 5, 2009 at 11:12 am
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I am sorry you are having to go through this and that your wife is having to go through this again. When I was reading your post, the first thing I thought was WOW 17 years with stageg 4 cancer! That is AMAZING! Hopefully this new chemo regimine she is starting will help knock the cancer back to a managable level for many many years.

I too just went through this. As a stage 4 person, she automatically qualifies for Social Security but how much she gets will depend on how much she has put in the sytem. You can request a statement from them that would tell you approximately how much she would get.

I ended up going through my employer. It is a state university and it was a better deal to go through them first and then social security when needed (I did partial disability).

I would contact her HR person and just visit them about the possibilities. She should be able to take FMLA for 12 weeks (while she is waiting for the disability to kick in). FMLA secures her health insurance. I was reluctant to do visit my HR person but it ended up being the best thing I did.

If I can be of any help, please let me know.

Jessica

By frannyv
Posted November 5, 2009 at 12:51 pm
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I receive Social Security Disability. The amount she receives is based on how much she paid into the system and how long she has been in the system. Apply online to start the process. Stage IV Breast cancer is pretty much an automatic accepance, as long as she answers the question that her illness will end in death. They will ask for the exact date she became disabled and there is a 6 month waiting period before she will receive the first check. You will have to have copies of all her medical records, test results to back up the date she became disabled. If she fills out the application online, they will send you the information of where to drop off the copies of her medical records. I stopped working Jan 26, 2005; applied for Disability in March 2005, received the determination in June 2005 and received my first payment is August 2005. They are always one month behind (August payment is for July). I wish you good luck with the process and I understand it is even easier now than when I applied.

By cat7
Posted November 5, 2009 at 8:29 pm
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MRBILL,

In the state of tennessee stage 4 qualifies anyone for disability payments and you are reaccessed every 3 yrs. I was told the week after I applied at the SS OFFICE THAT i WAS EXCEPTED., THEN IT TOOK 3 MONTHS TO GET A CHECK. GOOD LUCK

By chloemom
Posted November 6, 2009 at 7:22 am
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Dear Misterbill,
Your wife's financial situation is somewhat unique because of the retirement system her school system has choosen. I suggest you start at the school system, get copies of all the insurance policies and retirement plan.
Check to see if there is Short Term Disability and Long Term Disability insurance policies and Permanent Disability payments from the retirement plan. This will give you the info you are looking for re: pre-existing
conditions and $ amounts from these resources.

Then you can get a summary from Social Security of the lifetime payments into the system and what she can expect if disabled. The Social Security office can
also tell you/her if she is able to receive payments through S.S. and how much that will be. You can find info about this on the social security web site.

Social Security benefits are automatic for people with
Metastatic Breast Cancer through the Compassionate
Allowances program of S.S. You can find info about
Compassionate Allowances on the S.S. website as well.

The other thing to track is any life insurance policies she may have, especially if they are paid for by the
employer. She may be able to keep these policies in place after she stops working with the premiums being permanently waived, and may be able to access part or all of those life insurance funds while living through an accelerated pay out. Copies of those policies are available through her employer as well.

I also suggest going through all of this with a lawyer just to make sure you and she understand what is available to her and how to access all the benefits. There is also a non-profit group that may help with all of this which you can access at www.patientadvocate.org

Good luck, it is a lot of work and your wife is lucky to have you helping with all of this!

By maxnan
Posted November 6, 2009 at 11:52 am
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Is it just me or is anyone else getting upset with people selling their "stuff" on this site? I think we're seeing it more and more and I don't like it as for me, it creates a general mistrust.

Sooooo cdf - exactly how much money goes to "various cancer charities" and what exact charities does it go to?

For me, I would much prefer that you use this site to both obtain and give support regarding cancer and not try to sell your book. Anyone else feel this way?

By cdf
Posted November 6, 2009 at 1:21 pm
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My apoligies.
First, the book is free to anyone who needs it and doesnt have the resources. We have given away many, many books and will continue to do so for anyone who needs it.

Secondly, 50% of the money (and the book is ten bucks) goes to Susan G. Komen Foundation, donations have been made to MD Anderson, among others. The rest of the money goes to support the site which is about a hundred bucks a month. We dont even sell enough to cover the expenses we are out.

Someone asked information, and the book provides it. I AM a cancer patient and would not explout anyone. Sharing the resource was not intended to "sell" anything...theres just too much info in the book to put in an email. And it is FREE if you do not have the resources and if you do pay for it, you are helping others. Good grief.

By cdf
Posted November 6, 2009 at 1:29 pm
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It states clearly in my response that I will email him the book free. I am shocked that this was taken so out of context when the intent was to help the guy and give a resource full of info that he asked about.

However, I do now know (after receiving an email that I had been reported for innapropriate postings) that you cant "market" anything. Marketing wasnt the intent, especially since I offered to give it to him, but point taken.

By Pam-Pam
Posted November 6, 2009 at 3:23 pm
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CDF,

I thought your response was very genuine and not at all a solicitation. In my life's experience I've found that no matter what a person says or does, there are going to be some who take offense. Please don't let one person's criticism affect your spirit of giving and sharing.

Pam

By Second_Dance
Posted November 7, 2009 at 4:17 pm
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Hope this helps. My experience was that I had worked after my Stage IV diagnosis for about 4 years before I decided that I just couldn't keep up anymore. When I called Social Security and explained my situation they said my qualification would be based on the date that I had become "disabled" not when I was initially diagnosed. So I don't think you will have any problem as Stage IV is a recognized disability for the social security disability program and approval is quick even if the disability does not occur at the time of initial diagnosis. As far as the SD please don't hesitate to work with the HR dept. I found that when I approached my HR dept that they were extremely sensitive and helpful. They worked hard to ensure that I recieved every benefit that I was entitled to. I hope your dear wife's treatment is successful and it is wonderful to hear how supportive you are. It is hard on family during this time and you will never fully know how much your care means to your wife.

Take care good luck to you both

By misterbill412
Posted November 7, 2009 at 8:53 pm
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Thanks to all that replied with all of the helpful info and encouraging words. I have checked and found out that since she has been in a school system for 10 years that opted out of social security she does not have enough credits in the past 10 years to qualify for Social Security Disability. She would have to work for 5 years to get back into social security. It looks like the best bet is going to be her long term disability policy with her school system. That will pay her 60% of her current salary if she qualifies. She has worked 10 years at the school and the last recurrence of the cancer was over 11 years ago, so it shouldn't be considered a pre-existing condition, but who knows with insurance companies. If she goes on long term disability she will continue to qualify for her health insurance as well as accumulating additional years toward her retirement pension. The long term disability would run until her SS retirement age.....66....at which time she would be able to switch over to her school pension, which would pay her 40% of her salary from that point on. It would have been nice to get the SS disability, but the way I understand the long term disability policy that amount might have been reduced by the SS disability amount anyway. What she will really miss is her flexible spending account, which she won't have since she won't be getting a paycheck from the school system once her paid leave runs out in February. We start chemo this week. The last two bouts 17 and 12 years ago she was given a 3-5% chance to make it 5 years. She's a real fighter and ready to kick cancer butt again. In the words of Jimmy V....never, never, never give up!

By cdf
Posted November 8, 2009 at 12:22 pm
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I'm glad you got your answers. good luck to you and your wife. I am so encouraged by all of the stage four cancer survivor stories. People are really living a long time and it give hope to the rest of us.

By cancerkicker
Posted November 8, 2009 at 9:32 pm
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Thanks for updating us! I am glad that you are getting some answers. Your wife sounds amazing to me and please give her my best wishes!

jessica

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