It was a little over or a little less than six years ago (6) when my sister applied for SSI. (Social Security Supplemental Benefits.) Statutory federal law states that if an individual is disabled more than two (2) years because of an injury or illness, then that individual qualifies for SSI. Sounds easy, doesn't it? The truth is far from that and unfortunately, unless you have an injury, orthopedic or otherwise, that is so severe you can hardly wipe your own butt, the probabilities of getting a positive decision in less than two years is next to impossible. The exception to this rule is if you have a terminal disease and you aren't expected to live more than two years. Very few people get their Social Security, SSI or Social Security Disability Insurance at their first hearing. Some get it, depending on their medical condition at their first appeal. Others, as I was fortunate enough to do, receive a fully favorable bench decision when the matter is heard on Appeal.
To get to the point, after fighting in excess of six (6) years my sister finally received her SSI Benefits (Social Security Supplemental Benefits). March of this year was the first month that she received those benefits and the amount that she received was $721.00. Her check did not show up this month. The first thing I did was attempt to call the Social Security Office to see if the problem was slight enough so that we could resolve it by telephone. Much to my surprise, I was answered by a S.S. "Call Center" rather than the actual Social Security office. The call center stated that Social Security would no longer be able to answer their phones and the call center would attempt to help us. The first thing they did was to ask her current address. We gave them her current address and lo and behold, the Call Center states that they had her down for Pensacola, Florida -- a state that she hasn't lived in for 10 years. I told the call center that we had records of where she had been living that had also been registered but they stated that she had to take care of the discrepancy at the local Social Security Office.
It is worth mentioning that Parhump, Nevada, DOES NOT have a Social Security office. In fact, we were told that Social Security personnel would be coming in from Las Vegas on the last Thursday of the month and would be available at the Civic Office or somewhere close to that location. Please note that this is the first of the month, or darn close. We are being made to wait until almost the end of the month. Some of our bills are not paid, we need to send for the title to our Jeep, and last but not least, we are hungry. The cavalier attitude that we encountered was not appreciated. How are we supposed to place groceries on the table? How about purchasing Kirk's ADD medicine? Not to mention this month when we were finally getting Direct TV. We have been in this podunk town for almost three months and still do not have television service. Excuse me, but don't financially challenged people have a right to receive timely services from the State when it isn't their fault that their check didn't arrive?
Furthermore, how can the state punish our family because the government was too cheap to build a Social Security office in Parhump, Nevada? How can you punish an entire family because of the shortcomings of the state and government? Hasn't anyone in this locale heard of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the ramifications that are brought to force when the provisions of said act are ignored or not met?
To me, it is extremely obvious that something is dead and stinking in Denmark. This is Harry Reid's backyard, and while he is busy attempting to tell the rest of the nation how to conduct their business I find it disturbing that he can't take care of minor problems in his own state. When this issue first showed its ugly face I immediately called Mr. Reid's office in the belief that I would receive some help. I was told that a young lady that dealt with that type of problem would call me Monday morning. If I was still waiting for that call that never came I'd be angrier than I already am.
What I am gathering from asking a lot of questions is that Parhump is an extremely broke town. How can any town in Nevada be "extremely broke" unless they are mishandling their money? Nevada receives a ton of taxes from the casinos that are plastered all over the strip. I also believe that it should be mentioned that Parhump is populated by a huge segment of Republicans and Libertarians. Their political agenda is not that what the Democrats believe in, and in fact, it's just about as close to opposite that you can get. Is the state budget punishing Parhump because they embrace a political agenda that is contrary to what the Democrats believe in? What happened to the tax money that was due to Parhump, and last but not least, there are 30 to 40 thousand people living in the greater Parhump area. Where in the hell is the public transportation? Don't tell me, there's no money for that either?
Now that I've vented in regard the poor services or lack thereof I should say, it's time to get to the gist of the Social Security Administration that is missing in action in this town.
First of all, I believe that the Social Security Administration is attempting to save money by writing in bogus addresses on people's Social Security records. The gentleman from the welfare office that was attempting to help us in this matter stated that this wasn't anything new and that it happened to people all of the time. I sincerely hope that he was wrong, because if he was correct, it demonstrates that the Social Security office is involving themselves in shenanigans that are designed to slow or lose Social Security checks that most people count on to pay their bills.
First and foremost, my sister did not live in Pensacola, Florida, at any time that is germane to this issue. She hired an attorney from Atlanta, Georgia, to handle her case and her address was registered at the Social Security office in Winder, Ga. To view this document please go to the end and choose Document 1-A.
Next, my sister also registered in Las Vegas, Nevada, so she would not experience a problem (sic) because she had not changed her address. We understand that Nevada is new to the Medicaid that President Obama had allowed the state to use and distribute during the normal course of business. We noted that after you apply for Medicaid the State of Nevada allows the individual either 22 or 24 days to return the application to the welfare office. (Almost all other states in the union allow 30 days to return said paperwork. We had not yet found a house we could rent so our application was destroyed and Medicaid was not given to any member of my sister's family.
To make matters worse, we had to move to Parhump where we thought the rest was less money and it wasn't; however, we rented a home out of desperation. Las Vegas found that the State of Georgia DOES NOT answer their phones. This includes the client, police, and other agencies. They are simply too busy to answer phones. When my sister applied for Medicaid for herself, her 16-year-old son, and her 18-year-old daughter, she was told that her daughter would only be allowed to stay on Medicaid until she was 19 years old. Las Vegas stated that she could stay on her mother's Medicaid until she was 23 years old. We asked "why" there was an obvious discrepancy in the age that she could stay on Medicaid and her worker stated that it was because Nevada was a "right-to-work state." I have no earthly idea what said answer has to do with our question.
Parhump is a stickler on any type of document they are filling out to the point of being absurd. They asked if we had a fax from the State of Georgia that stated that we were no longer on Georgia Medicaid. They made no effort to call Georgia and projected a "we don't give a damn attitude" as to whether we would be able to get said documentation from Georgia. Las Vegas tried to call and since they couldn't get through on numerous numbers stated that they would waive that requirement because Georgia would not answer the phone. We still did not have a permanent address so our Food Stamp card could not be issues to us.
In Parhump, the Welfare Office noticed that the Social Security Office had my sister's address listed in Pensacola, Florida; therefore they would not offer any assistance whatsoever on the Medicaid applications and stated that the address had to be changed at Social Security before they could process any Medicaid applications, and that included two that were for SSI recipients. My issue with the State of Nevada is that two of the Medicaid applications were for SSI Recipients. My sister has been in Nevada almost three months and she has done everything by the book; even so, what she has received for her efforts is exactly nothing. It is also germane to add that since she has been here, she has been in the hospital once for dehydration and then on another day where she was admitted for four days. My sister was granted SSI by a federal law judge, who stated that her medical was to be administered by Medicaid. The same is true of my nephew.
Neither of these two individuals has Medicaid nor are they under any type of medical care. My nephew is in need of his medication, and my sister is in need of doctor appointments, medicine, and too many other services to mention. I do believe that my sister's life is in danger. Why can't she get her medicaid as mandated by the federal government? Why is ANYTHING so hard to get in Parhump, Nevada. Some of the people are exceptionally rude here and I am speaking of one lady that told my sister that she had to have Medicare for her SSI, not Medicaid. Corrie attempted to make sense with this lady and instead of listening, she berated my sister for over 15 minutes because it was her belief that SSI recipients had to have Medicare to get their medical under SSI. That is absolutely incorrect; whoever this woman was it might be advantageous to find her a job where she understands what she is doing rather than taking out her abject ignorance on clients that have been in the system long enough to know how their SSI benefits are administered.
Harry Reid, you've done a fine job making sure that Nevada SSI
recipients get their Medicaid in a timely manner. I do hope that you
will remember this letter in the event that my sister dies because of
lack of care. Please speak on the Senate floor and explain to the Senate
how a woman that is wheelchair bound has been in your state for three
months and can't get medicine, a doctor's appointment, and her legs
swell up like tree trunks at night. Furthermore, if my nephew who is 16
has any problems with law enforcement because he is off of his ADD and
ADHD medicine who is also on SSI, please go to the restroom and bang
your damn head into the wall as hard as you can for being such as A$$
when people are attempting to reach out to you for help. Harry Reid
should concentrate more of his time in helping the people in Nevada
instead of spending all of his time and energy in attempting to get
reelected. It appears to me that Senator Reid's priorities are sadly
mixed up. He seems to be far more concerned in getting reelected than
worrying about the needs of the people in Nevada that he was elected to
represent.
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