How Do You Make Ends Meet?

• By Kathie1
• Posted January 16, 2008 at 8:04 am
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There are several things that you should be able to do. The first thing is to call your county's Department of Job and Family Services. You should be eligible for medical assistance and depending on your age, you may be able to apply for medicare. You may be eligible for food stamps, and utility costs as well. You should consider applying for social security disability, however do not give up if they deny you the first time. I hope that this helps you. God bless you! Love, Kathie

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• By jeanie379
• Posted January 16, 2008 at 10:19 am
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Hi Jessie,
I have been where you are.....have you started applying for social security benefits? SS turns everyone down the first time so if you were turned down, don't get discouraged, appeal. It took me 2 appeals. When I asked for the form to get a lawyer to rep me, I was mysteriously approved. The drug companies will also help pay for medication. I'm not sure of the process but surely your dr is and can point you in the right direction. Or maybe you can call the drug company you use and ask how you go about getting assistance. Please know it does get better and everything will work out eventually. It's just really dark right now - I remember that feeling and I wish I could do more for you.
Jeanie

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• By Jessie3
• Posted January 17, 2008 at 10:19 am
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Wow, Jeanie - thanks so much for being so open. I received my denial letter yesterday from SS disability benefits and cried so hard I couldn't see. I just couldn't believe it. I'm calling an attorney today as well as the manufacturers of all of my medications. Thanks so much for reaching out to someone you've never met. It means alot to mean.

Jessie

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• By Jessie3
• Posted January 17, 2008 at 10:33 am
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Thank you Kathie for reaching out to a total stranger.

I received my SS disability denial yesterday and it was a very dark day for me. I don't think I've every cried so hard. It was definately a day to make decisions...

I'm turning it around today and though I woke up having difficulty walking, I'll just work from my bed. I have a lot of agencies to call and letters to type.

Thank you for reaching out to me...Jessie

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• By Kathie1
• Posted January 17, 2008 at 12:53 pm
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Keep trying and do not quit. Find a family member or friend who can help you, or perhaps a church family member if you have one. I had a brother in WI who applied for SS and was denied. He got the attorney and then was approved with his input and expertise! So do not give up. The SS workers are only allowed to approve so many and are expected to deny so many even if they would normally qualify. There are even many who apply for SS and then die before they are ever approved. So do not quit, if you feel that you are disabled, you will prevail. You should find a court appointed attorney who specializes in SS. Many attorneys should know of a court appointed attorney that could help...you would just need to be able to substantiate the need (financial information). I hope that helps you. Praying for you and wishing you the best! Kathie

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• By Jessie3
• Posted January 17, 2008 at 8:44 pm
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Thanks!

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• By Nuckolls
• Posted January 18, 2008 at 8:28 am
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Send a copy of all your bills and your letter denying SS Benefits to your Congressmen(women) - all of them - along with a letter detailing all the problems you are having. I have found that they will generally return a form letter saying they are sorry they can't help, best of luck, etc. However, as with lawyers, doors seem to begin to open mysteriously and help can become more available.
I hope you have a good doctor(s) whose people can point you in the right directions. The doctors keep themselves away from most of the money situations but many of their personnel can point you in the right direction.
God bless and keep you strong.

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• By camae
• Posted January 19, 2008 at 9:17 am
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I know what you mean about struggling to make ends meet, keep food on the table and the bills paid, etc.. My 22 yr old son has been sick for over a year now with HSP he has a serious case of it that has left him in constant pain and has been in the hospital many times with intestinal bleeding. He has no Insurance and I live on a fixed income, I can't pay for the hospital visits that's already well over 100,00.00 at this point even with deductions for charity. I do pay for all his tests and meds out of pocket because he's unable to work either. My disability has to stretch to cover all our basic needs

We've applied for food stamps and were approved but we've been denied medicaid and social security twice. We're preparing to go for a hearing in front of a judge with a lawyer hopefully that will get things moving for him. I don't have much faith in the lawyer, he's very young and inexperienced.

We get help from several local churches in our city, food from food pantries though lately that's become harder some will only give out small amounts every three months and most are too far away, we had to give up the car couldn't pay for it any longer. We also had to move into a three room apt in a very questionable part of town the good thing is that it's reasonable walking distance to a bus stop. We eat a lot of cheap foods like Ramen pastas and rice and suffer constipation a lot as well.

I have hope that his SS will be approved soon and stop the downward spiral that we've been in. Hopefully you can get SS soon as well and things will improve for you.

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• By jroutledge
• Posted March 3, 2008 at 4:06 pm
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Focus on each area of concern and develop a resource list for each one. I would suggest you get used to Googling.

For the pharmacy costs, start by checking out Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA) (toll-free, 1-888-4PPANOW; www.pparx.org). PPA is the only source that provides a single point of access to the more than 475 patient assistance programs, which include more than 180 programs offered by the pharmaceutical industry. You might see Montel Williams on TV pitching this organization. Additionally, sit down and write down all of the manufacturers of prescription drugs you are taking. Each one of these pharmas will have some type of financial aid program that can help you out. Go to their web sites and look for assistance information and call. I would start with the PPA folks first.

Hope this helps.

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• By woodchuck
• Posted March 4, 2008 at 1:42 pm
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I have applied for disability, been accepted, nearly died, recovered, requested termination of disability, been ignored, finally got noticed on the 7th try, been dunned for recovery of overpayment retroactive to six months before I tried the first time, relapsed, applied for retroactive Expedited Reinstatement of Disability, been denied, got a lawyer, appealed, been denied, appealed again, been accepted. Retroactive payment of reinstated disability benefits washed out claim for recovery of overpaid benefits from back when they were not listening.

In short, I have some experience here, and may be able to help.

Here is one thing to know. To get SS disability benefits, you have to suffer. Not deliberately, of course, but that's the way it works out. Here's how: The Buddha tells us, correctly in my experience, that the root of all suffering is comparison. By the ancient word that we translate as "suffering", he means not the pain that the world inflicts on us, but the additional pain that we inflict on ourselves by focusing our minds on the pain the world inflicts. By "comparison", he mans in particular the comparison between the way things are and the way they used to be, the way we expected them to be, hoped they would be, planned for them to be, etc.

To get SS benefits, you have to provide a detailed factual comparison between the money you are making now and the money you were makiing "before it all started" (whatever that means in your particular case), and then compare what you are able to do now and for how long per day you are able to do it with what you could do, and how long you could do it, back then. To get the facts of these comparisons down on paper, you have to face those fact in your mind. To face the facts, you have to suffer. Unfair, but that's the way it is. So grab a box of Kleenex and get busy writing. Do a draft first in pencil on plain paper. Show it to people. Read it to people over the phone. Get their help making sure that the words you read them from your writing tell the same story that you tell them orally. Fix up the words on paper until you have got a perfect match..

Lather, rinse, repeat. Finally, copy the final draft to the official form. Use waterproof ink.

Also to know: you are applying for SSDI, not SSI. Also to know, you will be eligible for Medicare (Medicare, not Medicaid) 22 months after the effective date of the disability benefits, regardless of your age.

Also remember these statistics: Of all first-time disability applications, 80 per cent are rejected. Of all appeals of rejected claims, 80 per cent are accepted. So keep at it. Be prepared to suffer.

Does this forum give you a way to e-mail me privately without my posting my e-mail address in a public message? If so, please feel free. If not, reply on the forum, and we will find a way to be in touch.

--Erv

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• By jta3003
• Posted March 5, 2008 at 8:06 am
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I recently found myself in the same place. With my wife the only able to work and a dependant child we had to make some decisions quickly. My Neuroligist and my family DR. gave me no hope of returning to work anytime soon. So I simply ask them if they though I should try and get disabilityt SS and they both said yes. As matter of fact they both said they would do what they could to help.

My advice is to go on line or call SS disability right away. Talk to your Dr.'s let them know what you plan to do. If you there support and if they feel it is a good move go for it. You can apply online and even if you turned down the frist time there are lwayers who will help you appeal. Of course there is a cost to use a lawyer. However, most lawyers will not charge you unless they win the case.

In the mean time call your local hospital and for a social worker who can point you to some organizations that may be able to help you in the mean time. My wife works in a Hospital as an admitting registrar that is how we found help at various locations while we go through SS Disability process.

I hoppe this helps. God bless!

jta3003

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• By Muriel
• Posted March 5, 2008 at 10:43 am
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Hello,
May I ask the disease and where you are treated?
Muriel
Amyloidosis Support Groups Inc.
ASG www.amyloidosissupport.com

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• By Jessie3
• Posted March 5, 2008 at 11:41 am
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You may e-mail me at directly on brainpt@comcast.net. Thank you for your input, I have met with a Social Security attorney since first posting my message. I'm still awaiting response to my application to SSD; I thought with the first denial for social security disability, that was it. Done. No hope left. The attorney I met with stated that I had not been denied from Social Security yet - just disability. She advised me that I need to hold tight and do whatever I need to do to make ends meet. I've cashed out my pension etc. and continue to hold my head up.

If you have additional advise - feel free to e-mail me at home.

Thanks a million!

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• By Jessie3
• Posted March 5, 2008 at 12:37 pm
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Muriel,

I have been dx with Cervical Dystonia and Severe Headaches for which I am being treated at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (in PA) and at the Bacharach Institute for Rehabilitation (NJ).

I was assaulted by a student in 2006; continued to work throughout the year thinking that the workman's comp. doctors and my board of education were taking care of me only to find out that I had rose colored glasses on. I had no health problems before this occured. What has been extremely difficult is finding a doctor who understands what is going on in my body is not "purely psychological" and to say admit in writing that there is a correlation between the assaults which took place in my classroom and my present condition. The workman's comp doctors released me from their care over a year ago stating there was nothing else they could do for me. I just stared at them crying in pain, not able to believe what I was hearing.

Hopefully this is changing, but it has taken a long time and meeting many, many doctors to find the physician I met this week at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He was able to relate completely to symptoms, pain levels, activity interference, life changes, etc. I'm hoping he will come through and complete and thouough, a detailed report.

I still have no source of income or assistance since my contract ended in June 07. I have sent my children to live with their father and I pay child support based on what I was making as a teacher in 07. I meet with someone from the welfare office in 2 days and pray there is someway they can assist me and my family.

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• By Suest
• Posted March 5, 2008 at 4:36 pm
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I no longer live in NJ. I live in NC now, so I don't know if the laws are the same. But in NC, as long as I had an active application with Social Security I was eligible for Medicaid. That is something you might want to check into. Also, I was filing for SSI and not SSDI, so I don't know if that makes a difference but you might want to check, especially since you are considering bankruptcy.

Also, you only have 60 days to file for an appeal, so don't sit on anything. For SSI, after the first denial, I had to make an appeal on my own before I could appeal with a lawyer, so read your stuff carefully and see if that is your next step, call SS and ask them questions. Make sure you find out if you need a lawyer for your second step, and if you don't use a lawyer for the second step, that you can still appeal with an attorney. Most people, who are denied the first time, don't bother to appeal from what SS told me and in the second step, something like 60% will get approved. Once you get a lawyer, you will have to pay for them once you are approved. I agree with everyone who said call your state and federal senators and congressmen. Call you local Welfare department and see what you can qualify for and even see if you can get your county commissioners (or is it freeholders up there) to help you. Call whoever you can think of for help, even the local news if you think it might help. Government and politicians really doesn't like bad publicity, especially when you are going to tell people the names of everyone you called for help, so when you write all the politicians, make sure you tell them you are calling them as a last resort before you call the news reporters for help. Believe me, if a politician thinks he can get some good press for helping the little guy and he really thinks he can help, he will. Don't forget the people running for office, too. They didn't get on the ballet without having some connections.

Other than that, I can't think of a thing, except as others have said, call the local churches. See if your phone book has a page for people to call for a crisis and see if any of them can help you.

I hope I have given you some info that helps. Good luck to you and I'll say a prayer for you.
Sue

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